snake in toronto

Shocking video shows giant snake floating in river near Toronto

A shocking video recently filmed in Mississauga shows a massive snake motionlessly floating in a river, and it's unfortunately not the only viral incident that's involved one of the slithering animals in and around Toronto as of late. 

In a clip shared on Instagram, the enormous snake — ID'd by some commenters as a common boa — can be seen floating motionless in the Credit River at Erindale Park as an unsuspecting duck swims by. 

"This is horrible. Whoever owned it knew damn well releasing it was a cruel death sentence. These animals shouldn't be allowed to be pets," one person wrote under the video. 

"It's definitely dead, way too cold for a snake to survive in the water like that. Any snake in Canada right now that are alive are under the ground hibernating in groups to stay warm," another comment reads. 

Executive director at the Toronto Wildlife Centre, Nathalie Karvonen, told blogTO that the animal doesn't look like a native snake.

"However, native or non-native, it's an emergency that someone check this snake out to see if it's dead or alive. No snake should be out in the winter, and so visible to people," Karvonen added. 

"If it's non-native, the impact still wouldn't be significant but if the snake is alive I cannot stress enough that its life is in grave danger." 

Anyone who spots the snake is being advised to contact Mississauga Animal Services. Unfortunately, this isn't the only alarming snake-related incident that's occurred in and around Toronto over the past few months. 

Back in May, a man was filmed attacking another person by continuously whipping a live snake during a fight on Dundas Street West near Euclid Avenue. 

Toronto resident Laurenio Avila, 45, was charged with assault with a weapon and causing unnecessary pain or suffering to an animal. According to police, the snake was alive at the time of the incident but died shortly after. 

Lead photo by

@6ixdriptv


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