A little lost python found in Saanich has been reunited with its owner.
On April 3, Saanich police were called to pick up a small snake that had been found in a Cook Street apartment building. The critter was captured and put in a container to wait for Saanich Pound Inspector Mike Gibson to arrive, explained Const. Markus Anastasiades, public information officer for the Saanich Police Department.
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Gibson, a snake owner himself, was happy to spend his Friday morning collecting the “harmless python,” Anastasiades said. The python was determined to have been well taken care of and Gibson presumed it had slithered off in search of some heat.
The snake was taken to the Capital Regional District (CRD) Animal Shelter to wait for its owner. By the next day, the little python was back with its family, said Don Brown, chief bylaw officer for the CRD.
As it turns out, the snake was being “looked after by another person for a temporary period” and they hadn’t latched the snake’s container properly, Brown explained. As Gibson has guessed, the sneaky snake had simply slithered off in search of warmth.
Brown is glad the snake was found uninjured – and that it “didn’t strangle anybody,” he said jokingly.
By April 4, the little python was back “home, safe and sound.”
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The CRD shelter rarely sees snakes – only one every few years, Brown noted. Now that this little python has been in, he’s not expecting any other slithering guests anytime soon.
Brown pointed out that the shelter typically sees a spike in escaped pets in the spring because as the weather warms up, people begin to leave their doors open. This incident, he said, serves as a reminder to keep all pets secured. Brown added that with kids home from school due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s even more important to keep an eye on pets as kids may forget to close doors properly.
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