3-foot-long snake found inside Manhattan rehab center: NYPD
MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) – A 3-foot-long snake was discovered inside a Manhattan rehab center Wednesday night, according to the NYPD.
Officers responded to 1920 Amsterdam Ave. in Washington Heights around 10:30 p.m. The snake was removed from the first-floor lobby and taken to the ASPCA, according to authorities.
No injuries were reported. The snake is black and white and believed to be a California kingsnake or bandy-bandy.
Police haven't confirmed how the snake got into the lobby or if it was someone's pet.
It's not the first snake seen in the Big Apple this year. A 5-foot-long boa constrictor was spotted in the Upper West Side back on June 5.
A python was then seen two days later, wriggling up the sidewalk near the Rockefeller Center subway station in Manhattan. A snake also slithered from underneath the seat of a rented U-Haul van in Lower Manhattan, causing the driver to crash the weekend before, per police.
A man was bitten by a snake in Brooklyn on June 19 as he tried to remove the animal from his bathtub, according to authorities.
Many snakes are illegal to own in New York City. The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will only respond to calls about snakes if the animal is venomous or a constrictor, according to 311.
Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.