Feather boa

The sight of a snake eating a dead pigeon on a busy London street caused a few double-takes from passers-by. The boa constrictor, which triggered screams when onlookers realised what it was, was rescued by the RSPCA, which said: “It might be an escaped pet, or more worryingly, someone may have deliberately dumped it and left it to fend for itself.” Dave Fawbert spotted the snake, which he believed at the time to be a python, while walking home along Leytonstone High Road on Saturday.

Temperatures may have been touching levels more common in tropical climes, but the last thing a Saturday shopper expects to see on the streets of London is a boa constrictor. How the reptile came to be slithering its way along Leytonstone High Road at the weekend is anyone’s guess. But might we have found the answer to one of the capital’s great nuisances? The snake was seen devouring a pigeon which the authorities have spent years trying control. Hawks have been deployed around Trafalgar Square. Loud bangs have been tried to no avail. But no one thought of a snake before. Then again, we suspect Londoners might prefer sticking with the pigeons.