While details of this incident are fairly limited, we do know that it took place on Monday, July 8, 2024, at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). In a video shared on social media, you can see cargo either being loaded onto or off an aircraft (it's not entirely clear in which direction it's headed).
However, the operation stops, as some of the "live cargo" escapes from a box. Specifically, a huge number of snakes are suddenly seen on the apron, with more escaping from the box. It's unknown how exactly the snakes got loose from the box. For that matter, one wonders if the ground handlers knew what the cargo even was, or if it was a surprise (I would assume the latter, since I can't imagine snakes can be transported in such a box).
By the way, I'm assuming these are snakes, though I've also seen some suggest that these are eels? So I'm not sure what exactly they are, but regardless... bleh!
We see quite a few "snakes on a plane" incidents
Of course when an incident like this occurs, Samuel L. Jackson's 2006 "Snakes on a Plane" movie probably comes to mind. When we do see incidents involving snakes on planes, it's typically where a snake somehow makes its way onto a plane. Obviously this is a bit different, since clearly these snakes were being intentionally shipped.
Just to look at a few other incidents that we've seen, in February 2022, a snake was discovered in the lighting panel on an AirAsia Airbus A320 flying from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Tawau (TWU). The plane ended up diverting to offload the non-ticketed creature. I guess a silver lining here was that the snake was behind a panel.
Meanwhile in November 2016, a snake was discovered in the overhead console on an Aeromexico Embraer E190 flying from Torreón (TRC) to Mexico City (MEX). The plane continued its flight, was captured by passengers, and was removed upon landing.
Back in 2013, a 10-foot python hitched a ride on the wing of a Qantas turboprop flying from Cairns (CNS) to Port Moresby (POM). While the snake managed to stay on the wing for the entire flight, it was found dead upon arrival.
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