A highly venomous snake popped up from a gutter drain on the streets of Melbourne and caused panic everywhere. It was a deadly tiger snake near the corner of Spencer and Collin street in the city. Seeing the deadly snake in the common vicinity, police had to cordon off the area for a while until a snake catcher had to be called. Barry Goldsmith who caught the snake said to ABC, "They do live around here, they eat mice and rats and we're swamped with those at the moment." The snake could've been attracted by the abundance of available food in the city space. The snake looked a little injured and was later taken to the vet. The police blocked one entire lane of traffic and it did cause certain disruption in the city.

Tiger snakes, however, are very common in Australia. But their venom can be very lethal and their snake bites have a mortality rate of 60%. In fact, they are the most venomous snakes in the continent, second only to the western and eastern brown snake.

Take a look at the rescue video: 

This is, however, not the first time a snake has been spotted in the city. The eastern brown snake was found in a bed by a couple in September 2017. It was hiding under the duvet when the snake-catcher arrived. These are the snakes that are responsible for half the snake bites here and if untreated they can cause paralysis, renal failure, cardiac arrest and death.

Another brown tree snake was found in a toilet bowl in the inland Gold Coast suburb of Guanaba. The snake catcher had live streamed the catching of the reptile. Although it is a less venomous species, the venom can cause breathing difficulties.

Australia, on the whole, has a lot of snakes but when a highly venomous snake was found in such close proximity to the city traffic, it was bound to create panic. So, while the other instances have been in closed surroundings, the tiger snake out in the open got the city traffic at standstill.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 22, 2018 03:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).