(KRON) -- Last week, a staff member at a Bay Area animal shelter got an unexpected surprise. According to Marin Humane, someone walked through the front door of their shelter and left a screw-lid bucket on the floor of the lobby.
The person, who was not identified, then turned and left without a word.
An unsuspecting shelter adoptions staff member, thinking it was a food donation, opened the bucket. Inside, they saw a jumble of items at the bottom and reached in. Luckily, they pulled their hand back immediately after realizing that hidden in the debris was a live rattlesnake.
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"If you want to bring us any animal (but especially a venomous one!), please let a staff member know," wrote Marin Humane in a post. "We want to help, it's what we're here for! And we don't want to get bitten by a surprise snake, please."
The shelter recommended calling its Animal Services Officers to safely and humanely remove rattlesnakes at (415) 883-4621.
The shelter also added that "we aren't sure how long this snake had been sealed inside, but an unventilated bucket during a heat wave isn't the safest housing for a snake."
Thankfully, in this case the snake -- and the shelter worker -- were both OK. Humane officers were able to release the reptile safely.
