Dear Burm-people: I trust you'll pardon an ole-newt guy if he's mis-identified the snake from the photo at the URL and posted in the wrong place. Wes
NOBLESVILLE DAILY TIMES (Indiana) 09 August 06 Snake - and a big one - found near campground (Rebecca L. Sandlin)
It seemingly came from nowhere, found lying in a heap Sunday evening - a humongous heap - on a log on White River along Joyce Avenue just a short distance from Strawtown Koteewi Park and the White River Campground. Three teenage boys, Levi Radnor, of Cicero, Martin Garrison of Strawtown and Nick Hartley of Cicero found a freshly-dead 17-foot, 4-inch python.
At first, Garrison, 15, thought he saw some kind of car part dumped in the river. It was lying belly-up on the log, its head tucked beneath its body. The three were canoeing down the river, and had been playing and swimming shortly before they made the discovery. "We stopped and saw this creek and decided to walk up it," Garrison said. He could hardly believe what he saw just a short distance away. "I haven't seen snakes that big since, like, in movies - and those snakes aren't real in movies," Garrison said.
Radnor, 16, said the boys became scared when they realized what it was and began to run away. But curiosity soon overcame their fear. "I saw the scales and stuff, and I was like, 'Oh!'" he said. "We threw a rock at it to see if it was still alive, but we didn't really look to see if it moved or anything, because we took off running. We got to the bridge, and we just looked at it and realized it was dead."
Buzz of the discovery even made the Arcadia Town Council Monday night as news quickly spread of the unusual incident. After lots of pictures were snapped, a few of them found their way into the e-mail box of Hamilton County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Jon Robison. "I thought it was a hoax, until I got to investigating it," Robison said. "But one of the kids in the photograph had on a Hamilton Heights T-shirt, so I immediately realized that this is not a hoax, that it's a local photograph." Robison wants to know who may have owned the snake and how it got to the log on the river. Was it dumped off the Joyce Avenue Bridge? Was it struck by a car then slithered to the log to die? The answers could be a matter of public safety, especially when it occurred close to a public park and campground where young children play.
He also wants to make sure there are not any more lurking out there. Robison said the snake was big enough that it could have wintered by burrowing down into the ground and hibernating. When it was found, it had not rotted, didn't smell, there were no flies on the body and it appeared to have been healthy. "This snake has either been let loose, escaped or something like that," he said. "It was big enough that it could kill and eat a small child. It's big enough it could kill somebody my size." Robison said the snake's girth measured 22 inches - about the size of a car steering wheel.
It took four big strong men to carry the snake from the river to the back of Dave Pickett's pickup truck. From there they took it to his house in Arcadia, where he skinned it. He said the animal weighed more than 250 pounds. "We were fishing right across from where the kids found that snake," Pickett said.
He said there was nothing in the reptile's stomach, but it still had a lot of fat on it. Pickett is still deciding what to do with the skin. "I've got a big fish display in my house. I'm either going to have it stuffed and wrapped around a tree in my house or have it tanned," he said. "I hate snakes, but I had to have this pelt."
Hamilton County's Chief Naturalist, Amanda Smith, said many people think they're doing the humane thing by releasing pets such as snakes into the wild, but letting them go usually spells a death sentence to the animal. "These pet snakes - pythons, boa constrictors, those types of snakes as well as alligators and that sort of thing - unfortunately, because they are sold as pets, they are more commonly coming up in our wildlife population, because they've been released," Smith said. "The high likelihood is that this is a pet. Either it was released or it quickly died, or - and what does happen a lot of times -is that these animals are released and they do survive for a period of time and eventually die. Or worst case scenario - they survive, and then they start competing with our other animals and become a problem."
Smith said she did not think there is cause for the public to panic. However, the experience will make three teens think twice about playing in the river again anytime soon. "I'm going to be more afraid and cautious along the river," Garrison said. "I live along the river and play on it a lot and go canoeing. I've never seen anything that big before." The Sheriff's Department's investigation is ongoing. If anyone has information that could identify the owner of the snake, call Sgt. Jon Robison at 773-1282.
Snake - and a big one - found near campground
