A rare snake spotted in central London has frightened walkers - who feared it had "escaped from the zoo".<br /><br />Chris Kutler, 59, worried the Aesculapian snake - also known as a rat snake - was missing from London Zoo after he spotted it nearby. <br /><br />The walker was out for a stroll on the Regents canal towpath when his dog stopped to look at something in the grass.<br /><br />He was shocked to discover a dark grey snake – which the Chris said was "too big" to be an adder or grass snake. <br /><br />After calling a friend to help identify it, he was relieved to discover that despite not being native to the UK the animals are not venomous or aggressive. <br /><br />Chris said the snake he saw was longer than one-metre but they can grow up to two-metres in length and are one of the largest snakes to be found on the continent. <br /><br />Chris, from London, said: “The dog stopped to look at something and I thought ‘what’s that’ - and it was a snake. <br /><br />“I thought it might be an adder or grass snake, but it was much too big for that. <br /><br />“I realised I was next to the zoo and thought maybe it's escaped from the zoo. <br /><br />“I was quite mesmerised by it but didn’t know if it was poisonous. So I called a friend who knows about this kind of thing who said he thought it was a rat snake.”<br /><br />London Zoo said the rat snake did not escape from the zoo and lives on the banks of the canal.
