CALGARY SUN (Alberta) 25 May 04 Slippery culprit - Reptile-fearing cop would rather tussle with bad guys (Mike D'Amour)
For goodness snakes, one cop got the yippy, yippy shakes after a slithering reptile somehow found its way into a senior citizen's apartment. "I'll tell you," said the veteran officer, who the Sun will not name for fear of tons of tickets coming our way, "I'd rather be in a gun battle than face a snake."
However, the officer's worst fears came true yesterday when he was first on scene at Annie Loreto's ground-floor apartment at 9510 Bonaventure Dr. S.W. and discovered the albino corn snake she'd trapped in a box.
"Actually, that snake came into my apartment about two months ago," said Loreto, a 77-year-old public health nurse.
"At first, I wasn't sure what it was, so I poked it with my cane and it moved."
The feisty senior grabbed the nearest container at hand -- a discarded apple strudel box -- and trapped the 46-cm legless lizard and released it outside, but it returned several weeks later.
Reptile-fearing cop would rather tussle with bad guys