A photo posted by Portsmouth Police (@portsmouth_pd) on Oct 25, 2016 at 10:06am PDT Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe PORTSMOUTH, Va., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Virginia authorities shared photos of a tiny and "extremely happy" snake after an officer used butter to free it from a glue trap at a resident's home. Portsmouth Animal Control said in an Instagram post that Officer Brenda Quintana responded to a Portsmouth home Monday on a report of a snake found in a resident's pest control glue trap. Advertisement "Once on scene, Officer Quintana realized the snake was still alive and took the snake back to her office to try and save its life," the Instagram post said. "After Officer Quintana returned to the office, she and Animal Control Officer McLeod used butter to help free the snake from the glue trap and save its life." The photo shows the snake appearing to smile after being freed from the glue trap. "As you can see from the pictures, the snake was really stuck on the trap and was extremely happy once he was freed by these diligent Animal Control Officers," the post said. The snake was released outside Tuesday. The post pleaded with residents not to use glue traps. "Our Animal Control Officers want to remind citizens that although glue traps appear to be a 'safe and humane' way to capture unwanted pests and small animals such as snakes and mice, glue traps are actually more inhumane," the department said. Advertisement Read More 'Hipster' snake sporting 'sunglasses' and 'mustache' spotted in Texas Police help women stopped on highway to catch escaped snake in car Snake crawls down South Carolina woman's leg while driving