TORONTO STAR (Ontario) 27 November 06 Surprise! 8-foot python found on quiet street (Nick Kyonka)
Photo: Reptile-lover and Toronto police Const. Ron Tait holds python. (Tara Walton)
It was a typical early morning in the city's east end until police made an unexpected discovery on a quiet street.
"It was an eight-foot python curled up in the middle of the road," said Sgt. Rod Lawrence of 43 Division. "I guess that somebody maybe had enough of it and didn't know what to do so they dropped it off in the middle of the road."
Police were called to 25 Greenbrae Circle, near Markham Rd. and Lawrence Ave. E., around 1 a.m. yesterday after receiving a call about the reptile.
The officers' first task was to test the snake's temperament by prodding it with their batons. After determining the snake was not a threat, the officers picked it up and dropped into a box. With the reptile safely contained, the officers' next step was finding a place to keep it.
"Animal control wouldn't attend unless it was injured," Lawrence said. "So they took it up to 42 Division because they have a snake expert there.
"He's going to look after it for a couple of days."
By the time the snake reached the station, its health was in need of urgent attention, said the expert, Const. Ron Tait, who identified it as a Burmese python.
"When it first came in it wasn't too responsive and it was very slow moving," Tait said. "I just let it wrap around me and hang off me for a while. Then I got him in the water and that warmed him up right away."
Tait said the snake, which he joked he may start calling Lucky, was not capable of handling the cold temperatures of the late fall night, and likely would not have survived had it not been rescued from the streets.
"It's a terrible thing to have left it out in the cold weather like this. It wouldn't have lasted much longer.
"The temperature of the animal itself would have adjusted to the temperature of the environment, and if it got too cold for too long it would have ended up dying."
Tait described the snake as a calm, young python with no venom. It probably would not have hurt anybody had it not been caught, he said.
"He does have a mouthful of teeth and he is capable of biting, but he's obviously been someone's pet and he's very docile."
"It will be well cared for from this point on ... I'm going to get him home and get him warmed up and maybe get him a nice tasty rat."
Although the snake's long-term living arrangements may be up in the air, Tait said he would be happy to add the python to his extended family.
"I've been keeping snakes and tarantulas and lizards and everything you can possibly imagine for 15 years now," he said. "I definitely have room if no one else does. There's no doubt."
This isn't the first snake-spotting in Toronto. A venomous cobra was too quick for emergency crews at a west-end rooming house in early October.
The 1.5-metre snake was found in a house near Weston Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W. But the snake had disappeared by the time emergency crews arrived, police said. It still hasn't been found, the building's owner said.
Since then, it has been hiding in the walls of the home, causing residents to be evacuated because of health risks, Toronto Public Health said.
The reptile belonged to a family that lived in the adjoining home but a municipal bylaw prohibits anyone from keeping such a venomous reptile, police said.
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