Snake interrupts New Mexico elementary school Zoom lesson

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - A New Mexico elementary school teacher on Zoom with students had a lesson interrupted thanks to an uninvited guest: a bullsnake.

The desert animal surprised Sunrise Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Annette Otero Nuñez during a class May 12 via Zoom from her backyard in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports.

The students - at home on their computers or mobile devices - saw Nuñez getting rattled as the snake slithered toward their teacher.

“I am embarrassed to say that you can hear me get startled at least three times,” Nuñez said. “The snake just did not sit well with me.”

Nuñez called Las Cruces Animal Control and an officer responded while class was still in session.

Animal control officer Juan Valles captured the animal and then gave students a quick lesson on identifying desert snakes and snake safety.

“A lot of people are raised in this area to be fearful of snakes and I understand why,” Valles said. “I think if we educate people and just teach them how to properly go about it, that it’s not a big deal and they’re not something to be scared of.”

The bullsnake, prevalent in the American Southwest, is not venomous.