A German woman sparked panic at her local post office when a 1.5-meter (5-foot) albino python escaped from a packet she had mailed, police said Tuesday.

The 28-year-old woman, who had sold the snake over the Internet, stuffed it in a package labeled "attention -- glass" to be sent to its new owner.

"Staff accepted the package and put it in the back of the office -- they had no idea what it was," said police spokesman Andreas Blum. "All of a sudden, they noticed that it started moving around and then saw a big snake wriggling out of it."

One of the postal workers in the western city of Mechernich, who was familiar with snakes, wrestled with it and locked it into another container, while her colleagues ran away.

While it is not a crime to send snakes by post, the woman is being investigated for the improper treatment of animals.

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• Woman mails five-foot python - begunwithaletter, Wed Jul 26 17:13:21 2006
• RE: Woman mails five-foot python - pythonis, Sun Jul 30 00:57:08 2006