HERALD SUN (Melbourne, Australia) 12 November 08 Engine python gets free return trip
(AAP): A Queensland python that travelled several thousand kilometres under a car bonnet was flown back to its home state today.
Queensland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the car's owner got a fright when he opened the bonnet to find the python in the engine bay.
The car had been stored for more than a month and then loaded onto a carrier bound for South Australia.
The 1.2m hitchhiker touched down at Brisbane Airport this morning and will be released into bushland on the Sunshine Coast tomorrow.
EPA director of wildlife Nick Rigby said he was grateful the car owner had called the South Australian Department of Environment and Heritage, which took care of the python and arranged its passage home.
He said Jet Pets Animal Transport had flown the python back for free.
"I'd say this snake has been extremely lucky, as crawling into a car's engine bay is not generally a recipe for a long and healthy life,'' Mr Rigby said.
"It has been fantastic the way so many people have pulled together to get it home safely.''
Engine python gets free return trip