Parking-lot python goes up for adoption

BUENA PARK – More than a dozen prospective python parents have lined up to adopt a 6-foot snake that made a mysterious appearance in a Sears parking lot last week.

The owner of the albino python had until Tuesday to claim it, but didn't. That sets in motion an adoption process unlike most at the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority.

The large snake was removed by animal control officers and no injuries were reported.

Fourteen people have volunteered to take the snake, animal control Sgt. Chuck Miller said, but it's not that simple. Some cities don't allow huge reptiles. And animal-control officials want to find someone with the experience to handle a snake that – as Miller says – could one day "fill up a small room."

The animal-control authority hasn't even decided how much to charge in adoption fees for an adolescent female reticulated python. It's researching the value of such a snake and will charge a percentage of that, Miller said, but he declined to estimate how much that might be.

The plan for now is to work through the list of potential snake handlers until the authority finds one with the experience – and space – to take the python, Miller said. The authority "most probably" will do a home inspection before adopting out the snake, he added.

He estimated that it could take a week to find the snake an adequate home.

A man walking through the Sears parking lot at the Buena Park Mall spotted the python on the afternoon of Sept. 27. The man told police he saw the snake slither across the parking lot and then under a Ford Focus.

Animal-control officers removed the snake without incident. It has spent the days since in a big aquarium under a heat lamp, Miller said.

The reticulated python is native to Southeast Asia, and animal control officials have speculated that it must have been a pet to be here.
www.ocregister.com/news/snake-320403-python-control.html

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