No charges for charity over snake

SCOTLAND’S leading animal welfare charity is not to face criminal proceedings after killing a harmless snake that was mistaken for a deadly serpent.

The reptile was frozen to death after Scottish SPCA employees wrongly identified it as a deadly green mamba.

The creature was discovered last month on the UAL Bodewes cargo ship that had docked in Aberdeen after travelling from West Africa.

The Scottish SPCA was called out to rescue the reptile which was then taken to their Drumoak rehoming centre in Aberdeenshire under police escort.

However, staff could not find any snake specialist willing to adopt the animal so it had to be put to sleep.

The Scottish SPCA was then accused of putting the animal to its death inhumanely by placing it inside a freezer.

This went against the charity’s own guidelines on good practice.