Police have charged an 18-year-old woman with animal cruelty after video footage emerged which appeared to show a pet snake being fatally injured as it was thrown about an Aberdeen street.
The teenager has been charged tonight after police became aware of the clip, which was shared online, this afternoon.
The woman will be reported to the Procurator Fiscal and will appear at court a later date.
Sergeant Jonathan Spence said: “Inquiries were carried out involving police and the Scottish SPCA and we are grateful to members of the public who have assisted.”
The boa constrictor landed up on a pavement after it slithered out of a city centre building on Tuesday night.
Owner Robert Norman discovered his pet had vanished when he returned to his flat.
And he was devastated to find out his snake, Esmerelda, had died yesterday despite animal lovers trying to nurse the creature back to health.
Video footage has surfaced showing a woman appearing to throw the animal across a road near the city’s beach with the creature filmed lying on a pavement afterwards.
The Scottish SPCA was contacted and welfare officers are now investigating the incident.
Mr Norman, who lives at Marischal Court, presumed that the three-year-old boa escaped through his open bedroom window and had gone down to the street below.
He said: “I’d been out for a walk on Tuesday evening, and came back to find Esmerelda wasn’t in her cage. I searched my house from top to bottom and couldn’t find her.
“During the night I heard people shouting, but had no idea it was about my snake.”
The snake was initially handed over to the police after it was found in the beach area of Aberdeen.
Esmerelda, pictured on a bed of Press and Journal pages, was then taken to the Scottish SSPCA Drumoak rescue and rehoming centre.
Staff members were also upset when the snake died.
Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn said: “Sadly the snake has now passed away and a post mortem is being carried out in order to establish the cause of death.”
Mr Flynn said the animal welfare charity was investigating an allegation of a snake being thrown about a street in Aberdeen.