Updated
From time to time, people come with two long, exotic snakes to Washington Square Park for interaction with visitors on the park’s pathways with the intention of getting donations. Photo above and at bottom pictures a cream-colored snake from late May.
I’m not a fan of the whole ‘displaying snakes in a public park’ – where they should not be – to make money. Nonetheless, I can’t help wondering if the practice wasn’t yielding much in the way of “donations” and they just let one of the snakes go because, on Sunday, a 2 foot long much longer than 2 foot snake was found at the park! The Daily News reported NYPD as stating the snake was 2 feet but clearly much longer than that. At least 4 or 5 feet.
The ‘exhibitors’ were typically in the northern end of the park where this one was discovered. Hopefully, that is not the case and it’s just a coincidence.
There was a second snake which I’d say was brown and striped — possibly like the photo below, although it states the snake was green and black — but I did not take a picture. There were two people, a man and a woman, “exhibiting” the snake. Another time I encountered them I just rushed by.
Maybe the other snake is still lurking?
Update! I do not think it was these snakes, thankfully.
From the New York Daily News, Snake terrified people at Washington Square Park, cops called:
It was a slither in the park for this 2-foot snake.
Police arrived at Washington Square Park Sunday afternoon after terrified visitors called about a serpent in the grass by their bench on the north side of the park.
A woman dialed 911 and told the operator the snake was more than 9-feet-long, cops said.
While the green-and-black snake scared some, others were intrigued.
While the snake frightened some people, it intrigued others.
.
“My impression of it was that it was someone’s pet,” said Marvin Perelman, 75. “Definitely harmless.”Cops found the snake in the ferns and put it in a garbage bag before moving it to a cardboard box.
It is unclear whether the snake was poisonous.
As the article says, “snakes are indigenous to the urban jungle.” NYC could be considered an “urban jungle” but that is not the urban jungle they are indigenous to!
Of course, it might not be linked to these other snakes and perhaps someone released it (also not the ‘thing’ to do).
I wonder what will become of the snake. Good luck to it!
Photo below of me, Penny Arcade, Jackie Rudin, others, and, in background, park redesigner George Vellonakis when we all encountered one of the snakes in late May on a “tour” of the park led by Vellonakis. The person to the far right is the young woman ‘in charge of’ the snake.
Top Photo: Cathryn
Middle Photo: Frank Green, New York Daily News
Bottom Photo: Hellen Osgood