Snake on a plane delays a flight in Australia
The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley.
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- Yahoo
Drivers warned after 'heartbreaking' find next to road at Aussie tourist town
Australians are once again being urged to slow down when driving through known koala habitats, after a previously rescued five-year-old female was struck and killed along a notorious stretch of road on the east coast. Wildlife advocates say the animal is the second to be killed in Bangalow, just outside Byron Bay in the New South Wales Northern Rivers region, in recent times. The death is particularly concerning to rescuers, with the area down to just a couple hundred individuals, according to recent estimates. Since European colonisation, koala habitat in Australia has been devastated, with approximately 29 million hectares (54 per cent) of forests and woodlands destroyed in NSW alone. Even in recent years, deforestation has continued at an alarming pace. In 2020, 53,800 hectares of vital koala habitat were lost to logging and development, with the animals' population taking a further hit during the 2019-2020 bushfires, in which up to 19 million hectares were burnt. A WWF-Australia assessment estimated approximately 8,400 koalas died on the NSW mid-north coast alone, representing up to 30 per cent of that region's koala population. Combined with road trauma, their numbers continue to dwindle. On Wednesday, conservationist Linda Sparrow, of Bangalow Koalas, urged drivers to take the simple step of slowing down as she shared "distressing images" of the latest fatality. "We lost another female koala this morning on Bangalow Road, just down from Old Bangalow Road, Byron Bay," she said. "There are roadworks up at the intersection of Old Bangalow Road with a 40km speed limit. Please stop speeding along this stretch; this is the second female koala killed along this stretch in recent times. Linda branded the latest fatality "heartbreaking for rescuers, heartbreaking for Byron Shire koalas" who she said "are up against the odds". "It appears both times the koalas have come under the barrier along the road and hit straight away. This koala was rescued from a swimming pool near Arkawal National Park three years ago," she added. Speaking to Yahoo News, Linda has argued the "world is watching" when it comes to koala conservation, and implored governments and the public to rise to the challenge and take action. "I can't imagine a world where there are no koalas. We have to step up and we have to protect them, because by protecting koalas, we're actually helping all of us," she said recently. It comes amid continual warnings that koalas are facing extinction in NSW by 2050. Linda is currently embarking on a bold mission to repopulate the area with trees, in a bid to create a "koala corridor" — an interconnected network of habitat where koalas can roam freely and safely, far from the threat of humans. In May, she hit the incredible milestone of 450,000 trees planted. Spanning 161 plantings across 121 properties in seven local shires, the community-driven initiative has become one of the region's most impactful conservation efforts. With just thousands of trees remaining to hit the half-a-million mark by the end of the year, Bangalow Koalas is calling on individuals, communities, and corporate sponsors to "help us cross the finish line". Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
CBS News
15 hours ago
- CBS News
Snake found on passenger jet in Australia, delaying flight 2 hours: "It looked very dangerous to me"
An Australian domestic flight was delayed for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane's cargo hold, officials said on Wednesday. The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley. The snake turned out to be a harmless 2-foot green tree snake. But Pelly said he thought it could be venomous when he approached it in the darkened hold. "It wasn't until after I caught the snake that I realized that it wasn't venomous. Until that point, it looked very dangerous to me," Pelley said. In this photo released by The Snake Hunter, snake handler Mark Pelley lifts a a 2-foot green tree snake in the cargo hold of a plane at Melbourne Airport, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. The Snake Hunter via AP Most of the world's most venomous snakes are native to Australia. When Pelley entered the cargo hold, the snake was half hidden behind a panel and could have disappeared deeper into the plane. Pelley said he told an aircraft engineer and airline staff that they would have to evacuate the aircraft if the snake disappeared inside the plane. "I said to them if I don't get this in one shot, it's going to sneak through the panels and you're going to have to evacuate the plane because at that stage I did not know what kind of snake it was," Pelley said. "But thankfully, I got it on the first try and captured it," Pelley added. "If I didn't get it that first time, the engineers and I would be pulling apart a (Boeing) 737 looking for a snake still right now." Pelley said he had taken 30 minutes to drive to the airport and was then delayed by security before he could reach the airliner. An airline official said the flight was delayed around two hours. Because the snake is native to the Brisbane region, Pelley suspects it came aboard inside a passenger's luggage and escaped during the two-hour flight from Brisbane to Melbourne. For quarantine reasons, the snake can't be returned to the wild. The snake, which is a protected species, has been given to a Melbourne veterinarian to find a home with a licensed snake keeper. According to the Department of Biology at Lamar University, green tree snakes can live almost anywhere there is warm brush and shrubs. They eat frogs as well as lizards, small birds and eggs. Snakes have made cameos on Australian jetliners before. In 2013, stunned Qantas Airways passengers watched out their windows as a large python clung to a plane's wing during a two-hour flight from Australia's northeastern city of Cairns to Papua New Guinea. Snakes have been spotted on passenger jets in other countries. In 2022, a snake was discovered on board a United Airlines passenger flight from Tampa Bay, Florida, to Newark, New Jersey. The non-venomous snake was removed from the plane by airport staff after the flight landed in Newark. That same year, an AirAsia passenger plane was forced to divert and make an unscheduled landing after a snake was spotted slithering through the overhead lights.
Washington Post
a day ago
- Washington Post
Snake on a plane delays a flight in Australia
MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian domestic flight was delayed for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane's cargo hold, officials said on Wednesday. The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley.
