Cops hold rattlesnake in car

A rattlesnake in Florida ended up in the back of a police car.

The snake was being carried by a homeless man walking

around Jacksonville Beach on Monday morning.

Sgt. Larry Smith told local news stations the snake was six to eight feet (2 to 2.5 metres) long. When police stopped the man, they told him to throw the reptile into the back of their vehicle for safety.

In a WTLV-TV report , video

shows a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer pulling the snake from the patrol car’s back seat. The rattles at the end of the snake’s tail can be heard shaking as the officer drops the snake into a plastic container.

The snake was relocated to a wooded area.