An escaped king cobra that sparked an emergency call to the police and RSPCA turned out to be a plastic toy.
Cobra
A woman raised the alarm after spotting the killer reptile on a chair in her garden in Cumbria earlier this week.
RSPCA inspector Martyn Fletcher says that the woman thought she saw the snake move but he soon realised that it wasn't actually real.
Fletcher said he could understand why the woman was scared and confirmed that the toy had been returned to neighbouring children.
He told BBC News: "It's really important in these situations to confine the animal as safely as possible, particularly if it's suspected that the snake may be venomous.
"However, it didn't take me too long to realise that this king cobra was the plastic kind - thankfully too as they are deadly venomous snakes.
"Obviously we are trained to be able to identify snakes but it is not so obvious to members of the public - so I understand they may have been spooked by the sighting."