MBTA Charges Snake Owner For Red Line Clean Up
BOSTON (CBS) -- The woman who lost her snake on a Red Line train in Boston in January is now being ordered to pay the MBTA $600.
Melissa Moorhouse lost her 3-foot boa "Penelope" at some point between Park Street and Andrew stops. The snake had been draped over her shoulders.
The snake was missing for several weeks a commuter spotted it and alerted a train attendant at the Savin Hill station.
The MBTA took the train out of service to search it.
Several hours later that train attendant Sharon Lynch — a snake owner herself — caught the snake.
Now the MBTA is charging Moorhouse because it had to disinfect the train car to get rid of any germs like salmonella.
In a letter to Moorhouse, the MBTA also reminds the snake owner that if she continues to bring the snake on the train, as she has said she would do, the snake should be in a secured pet carrier.
