Who needs “snakes on a plane” when you have “eels on the apron?” I’m guessing this incident may have caused some last minute menu changes at a Japanese restaurant…
In this post:
Vancouver Airport’s strange eel incident
While details of this incident are fairly limited, we do know that it took place on Monday, July 8, 2024, at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). In a video shared on social media, you can see cargo either being loaded onto or off an aircraft (it’s not entirely clear in which direction it’s headed).
However, the operation stops, as some of the “live cargo” escapes from a box. Specifically, a huge number of eels are suddenly seen on the apron, with more escaping from the box. It’s unknown how exactly the eels got loose from the box.
I’m curious what caused this incident. Was the cargo correctly labeled as fragile based on its contents, and the ramp staff just weren’t careful with how they handled the box? Or did someone not declare what was in the box, so it wasn’t handled properly?
At first I had assumed these were snakes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. As you can see, they’re not actually moving much, and it seems like they were in water in the box, and that spilled onto the apron. As someone with an irrational fear of snakes, I’m not sure if that’s reassuring, or just makes me reconsider my future dining selection at Japanese restaurants…
At least this wasn’t a “snakes on a plane” incident
It’s interesting to see an incident not involving snakes for once, since we do sometimes see those. When those incidents occur, it’s typically where a snake somehow makes its way onto a plane.
Just to look at a few other incidents that we’ve seen, in February 2022, a snake was discovered in the lighting panel on an AirAsia Airbus A320 flying from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Tawau (TWU). The plane ended up diverting to offload the non-ticketed creature. I guess a silver lining here was that the snake was behind a panel.
Meanwhile in November 2016, a snake was discovered in the overhead console on an Aeromexico Embraer E190 flying from Torreón (TRC) to Mexico City (MEX). The plane continued its flight, was captured by passengers, and was removed upon landing.
Back in 2013, a 10-foot python hitched a ride on the wing of a Qantas turboprop flying from Cairns (CNS) to Port Moresby (POM). While the snake managed to stay on the wing for the entire flight, it was found dead upon arrival.
Bottom line
On Monday, ground workers at Vancouver Airport had their hands full, as a large number of eels escaped a box that was being transported into or out of an aircraft cargo hold. It’s not yet known if the ground workers just weren’t careful with the cargo, or if it just wasn’t correctly labeled.
What do you make of this Vancouver Airport snake incident?
I bet they are for Chinese restaurants.
eels are yummy as hell. They dunno what they are missing.
Life's too short to bother eating eels.
Except that the Japanese and the Greeks are among the two longest-lived demographics, and both are well known for their culinary cultures' eel consumption.
YVR cargo staff was eel-prepared to handle this kind of a shipment...
I'll get my coat
Had a delay out of PSP due to a rattlesnake in the luggage hold.
Why is there carpet fuzz in my unagi roll?
Smells like contraband. There is an illicit market for eels and it was my understanding that their exportation was illegal.
Eels still creep me out after a couple of times winning in rivers back home in NZ. They’d swim up against your leg.
Definitely not snakes, their inability to slither should be a dead giveaway.
Thanks all for confirming that these were eels. Post updated to reflect that. :-)
Clues. 1.water where the main group fell snakes are not wet. 2. Box plastic wrapped, again water and snakes don’t mix. 3.Animals unable to get away just flipping in place, snakes would coil back to defend themselves or disappear in a New York minute under something.
Some asking how? Poor packaging of mis-labeling. Or poor handling.
Also entirely possible that the eel cargo could have been unreported or not marked by a passenger...
Clues. 1.water where the main group fell snakes are not wet. 2. Box plastic wrapped, again water and snakes don’t mix. 3.Animals unable to get away just flipping in place, snakes would coil back to defend themselves or disappear in a New York minute under something.
Some asking how? Poor packaging of mis-labeling. Or poor handling.
Also entirely possible that the eel cargo could have been unreported or not marked by a passenger trying to get away with just checking the animals.
That this continues to circulate as “snakes” boggles my mind.
Everyone in the comments: these are eels
Ben's article: "snakes"
Definitely eels!
Those are Air Canada customer service agents.
I am about to say they are not snakes, they are rather just some sort of eel and most likely will be someone’s food lol
I used to work ramp at YVR. There was one time we loaded a box onto a plane that was clearly labelled “live harmless reptiles.” Glad that one was packaged well…
They are eels, the use of a plastic bag inside a styrofoam box, plus the spilled water on the floor means they were clearly transported in water (ergo not snakes).
These are eels, no?
They definitely look like eels, being shipped to make into sushi for dinner that night.
Yes, these looks more like eels as to snakes. However I am quite sure that must have been a very expensive cargo (eels are very expensive and a controlled item like ivory). I am quite sure that the box broke because these loaders did not bother to read the fragile tag to take care of loading the box. The other theory is that someone was trying to ship these eels illegally (it is a sort after commodity) and therefore not the correct packaging was used.
Cheers!
Wouldn't happen on Delta
I concur with others. They look like eels to me. Honestly most surprising bit here is that Qantas (used to?) operate turboprop flights from Cairns to Port Moresby. Does that tell us about Australia’s size or the turboprop’s ability to cover that distance? Wow
CNS-POM is only 500 or so miles.
Eels. In a normal transport box. Nothing too crazy but it’s a mess.
They look like eels to me.