A Northern Pacific rattlesnake hitched a ride inside a Ferrari for nearly 300 miles across western Canada before slithering out into the showroom of the brand’s dealership in Vancouver.
Employees first mistook the snake for a harmless garter and named it Enzo in honor of Ferrari’s founder and the reptile’s apparent “need for speed,” the Wildlife Rescue Association of British Columbia said in a Facebook video. But after experts identified the snake as venomous, a nearby animal hospital whisked it away and discovered that it had been microchipped as part of a research project.
Enzo was given a decidedly less exotic ride back to its home near Osoyoos, British Columbia. Dr. Adrian Walton of the Dewdney Animal Hospital put the snake in a bucket in the bed of his Toyota Tacoma and documented the return trip in another video. It was released in the exact spot where researchers had last tracked it 12 days earlier.
Enzo’s road trip started at a retreat for Ferrari of Vancouver staff in Osoyoos. At some point, the snake climbed into a car that was driven back to Vancouver and up to the third floor of the showroom.
Employees arrived the next day to find the snake “wandering around underneath the car,” the wildlife rescue group said. After learning of the danger it posed, they pushed it into a box with a broom.