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A water snake was found inside a pipe at a construction site on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Aug. 11
The NYPD safely removed the snake, later named Pillow, and transferred it to Animal Care Centers of New York City
Local residents expressed surprise and concern about encountering snakes in the neighborhood
There isn’t much that surprises New Yorkers, but a snake lurking in a pipe? That might do it.
From rats and mice to cockroaches and pigeons, lots of critters are known to roam New York City’s streets. But on Tuesday, Aug. 11, some N.Y.C. residents got a shock after a very different creature was found lurking on a sidewalk near a construction site on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Just before 9:30 a.m. local time, officers with the New York Police Department (NYPD) responded to a 911 call for a snake “observed in a pipe” near West 95th Street and West End Avenue, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE.
The snake, identified as a water snake, per Animal Care Centers of New York City (ACC), was discovered in a pipe by Pier Bueno on the construction site he supervises, NBC 4 New York reported.
The water snake named Pillow who was found in New York City’s Upper West Side on Aug. 11
Credit: nycacc.org
“I have come across some other rodents — raccoons and rats and stuff. But never a snake,” the construction superintendent told the outlet. “It was pretty scary. Especially when I saw the officer try to take the snake out of the piping.”
According to officials, the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit “secured” the snake. Footage shared by NBC 4 shows an officer pouring water through the pipe and lightly banging on it in an effort to remove the snake.
An NYPD officer is later shown holding a cloth bag, which was used to contain the newly freed reptile.
The water snake was removed from the construction site and placed in the care of Animal Care Centers of New York City (ACC). The reptile has since been named Pillow, a spokesperson for the organization told PEOPLE.
The water snake named Pillow who was found in New York City’s Upper West Side on Aug. 11
Credit: nycacc.org
Nobody was injured during the snake sighting and rescue, the NYPD said in a statement, though the ordeal did leave some Upper West Side residents a bit shaken.
NBC 4 spoke to several individuals who frequent the area where the snake was found, who expressed worry that they may now encounter another snake slithering around the neighborhood.
“I walk here all the time,” one resident who walks his small dog in the area told the outlet. “So…yeah. Wouldn’t be good.”
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Another local, identified as Gretchen Grant, told NBC 4, “It blows my mind, and of course I think, ‘Is a snake gonna come after me?’ I’ve got to be safe. I can’t have a snake biting me in New York.”
“A lot of things could happen in New York, but snake bites?” she added with a laugh.
Photos of Pillow in the ACC’s care, shared with PEOPLE, show the reptile curled up on a blue blanket, decompressing safely after its time on the streets of N.Y.C.
Read the original article on People