BOSTON HERALD (Massachusetts) 29 August 07 Lost snake headed for home ssssweet home (Laurel J. Sweet)
A baby boa constrictor abandoned in a Crown Royal whiskey pouch amid St. Anthony’s Feast festivities in the North End Sunday will be reunited with its frantic owner today.
“That snake is my life,” Jimmy Badolato, 45, of East Boston, said of the timid Colombian red-tail he calls Jake.
“My worst fear was what might have happened to him,” Badolato said. “Some people can be really cruel to animals.”
Jake the Snake has been given a clean bill of health, according to state environmental police Deputy Daniel Connolly.
Badolato said he bought the boa online four months ago. He took Jake downtown Sunday because, “whenever it’s a nice day, I take him out to get used to people.” The pouch, he explained, shields Jake from air conditioning and screaming women.
Badolato said someone apparently snatched the velvet bag - and Jake in it - from the wall he was sitting on at Haymarket.
“I was searching the streets until sundown. I didn’t know what to think,” Badolato said.
Jake will likely reach 12 feet in length, but now is only 30 inches long.
When Badolato saw Jake’s picture in Monday’s Herald, “I flipped out,” he said. “He’s like my baby.”
Lost snake headed for home ssssweet home