Tree-bound snake prompting call to catchers found to be rubber toy

WARANA, Australia, July 11 (UPI) -- An Australian snake catching service shared a photo of a dangerous-looking brown snake that turned out to be not too dangerous -- it was made of rubber.

Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 posted a photo to Facebook showing the "dark colored snake" a catcher named Justin was dispatched to remove from a tree Thursday in Warana.

"The caller said the snake hadn't moved since she had spotted it. One look at the photo below and you can see why," the post said. "This rubber snake, although realistic in appearance had fooled her into calling a snake catcher."

The post said the rubber toy was far from the only non-snake item callers have mistaken for dangerous serpents.

"We've been called to toads, lizards, toy snakes like this one and even Richie's famous 'brown snake' in a toilet last year that turned out to be something that just needed to be flushed," the post said.