{"id":320094,"date":"2026-08-13T04:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/320094\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T04:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:58:16","slug":"pretty-scary-snake-found-tucked-inside-pipe-at-n-y-c-construction-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/320094\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pretty Scary\u2019 Snake Found Tucked Inside Pipe At N.Y.C. Construction Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

A water snake was found inside a pipe at a construction site on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Aug. 11<\/p>\n

The NYPD safely removed the snake, later named Pillow, and transferred it to Animal Care Centers of New York City<\/p>\n

Local residents expressed surprise and concern about encountering snakes in the neighborhood<\/p>\n

There isn’t much that surprises New Yorkers, but a snake lurking in a pipe? That might do it.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The snake, identified as a water snake, per Animal Care Centers of New York City<\/a> (ACC), was discovered in a pipe by Pier Bueno on the construction site he supervises, NBC 4 New York<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The water snake named Pillow who was found in New York City’s Upper West Side on Aug. 11
Credit: nycacc.org<\/p>\n

“I have come across some other rodents \u2014 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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

An NYPD officer is later shown holding a cloth bag, which was used to contain the newly freed reptile.<\/p>\n

The water snake was removed from the construction site and placed in the care of Animal Care Centers of New York City<\/a> (ACC). The reptile has since been named Pillow, a spokesperson for the organization told PEOPLE.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The water snake named Pillow who was found in New York City’s Upper West Side on Aug. 11
Credit: nycacc.org<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“I walk here all the time,” one resident who walks his small dog in the area told the outlet. “So\u2026yeah. Wouldn’t be good.”<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

“A lot of things could happen in New York, but snake bites?” she added with a laugh.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW A water snake was found inside a pipe at a construction site on Manhattan’s Upper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[120684,5421,9,24,56,63,65,64,103,62,120683],"class_list":["post-320094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-animal-care-centers","tag-construction-site","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nypd","tag-upper-west-side","tag-water-snake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}