QUINCY, Mass. — Humans and lawns aren’t the only things suffering amid the Northeast drought.
Authorities say a thirsty rattlesnake slithered out of the woods and into the suburbs of Boston.
Massachusetts environmental police say the venomous timber rattlesnake was discovered coiled up near steps leading to a home in Quincy.
Experts say the snake likely was looking for water.
Police captured the reptile Thursday evening and released it back into the Blue Hills Reservation in neighboring Milton, which has one of the state’s largest wild populations of timber rattlesnakes.
The snake surfaced the same day that the U.S. Drought Monitor classified an area northwest of Boston as being under “extreme” drought conditions.
It was the first time any part of the Northeast has been classified that way during the current dry spell.
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