Israeli woman shopping for groceries in a town outside of Tel Aviv  was shocked & surprised when she realized a package of lettuce ‘included’ a young poisonous viper.

By Erez Erlichman

A young “Palestinian viper” which apparently entered a bag of lettuce during it’s harvest, managed to reach a “Supersal” store in Petah Tikvah.

A Palestinian viper in the wild – Photo: Guy Haimovich, snake-id.com

A photo of the snake, taken by Tzila (fake name,) a resident of Tel Aviv, spread quickly on social media overnight, a month after she went shopping for groceries last month at the market chain’s store in Petah Tikvah.

“I entered one of the chain’s smaller locations with my son in order to buy him something to eat,” Tzila told Ynet. “Someone called me over and asked me if I saw something strange in the lettuce. I immediately realized that it was a snake,” Tzila told ynet.
According to her, the store’s manager was not present at the time, and she asked the market’s workers to help her isolate the snake so that shoppers would not be hurt.

The picture of the viper in the lettuce – Photo: Snakesss.com

“I told them that the bag was open, the snake looked alive and needed to be removed,” she recounted. “I needed to leave the store, but I contacted the chain’s customer support hotline and reported the incident.”

Tzila also contact Guy Haimovitch, the website manager for “Snakeness.com,” which helps identify reptiles for the public at large in order to check if they are poisonous. “She sent the picture in real time, and told me that they found it in a supermarket, and didn’t know what to do,” Haimovitch said.

“I realized the snake in the lettuce was a Palestinian viper and advised them to call a snake trapper. It was a newborn snake, and there was a chance that there were more of them in the area. The snake could have disappeared in the lettuce, and it would have been a tragedy had someone been bitten while buying lettuce,” he said.

View original Ynet publication at:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4726239,00.html