Grandfather finds live snake inside bag of broccoli from supermarket

A grandfather was almost frightened to death after opening a bag of broccoli he had bought and found a live snake inside of it. 

Neville Linton, 63, bought the broccoli from an Aldi supermarket in Stourbridge, West Midlands, U.K. on June 2. When he got home, he put the recently bought produce into the refrigerator to keep until he decided to use it. 

Three days later, he took out the broccoli to prepare the meal. As he unwrapped the plastic surrounding the vegetable, he spotted the creature tucked away near the stem of the broccoli. 

Realizing that it was too big to be a worm or caterpillar, he called his sister, Ann-Marie Tenkanemin for help. After determining it was a snake, the two put it in a plastic container and took it back to the Aldi store where the broccoli had been purchased. 

Aldi shopper 'shaken' after finding live snake inside bag of broccoli from storehttps://t.co/DzRg0C5VkV pic.twitter.com/kPUIHY8khw

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“It was pretty frightening. I'm not good with snakes," Linton said, describing his fear of snakes. 

The snake was later identified as a ladder snake by a specialist at the Dudley Zoo. Although they are not venomous, ladder snakes can become aggressive when they feel threatened. 

Linton said Aldo offered some compensation for the error, but he said he is looking for more than that because it put his disabled son and vulnerable mother-in-law at risk. 

"It's lucky I didn't just leave the broccoli out in the kitchen, or it would have been loose in the house. That would have been a huge risk for us because we have two vulnerable people living here," he said. 

 "Plus, I'm phobic of snakes, so there's the emotional impact of that, too,” he added. 

Ladder snakes are mostly found in Portugal, Spain, southern France, and parts of Italy. The snakes tend to seek scrub bushy cover, such as those provided by orchards, vineyards, hedges, and overgrown dry-stone walls.