City searching for escaped ball python's owner

The city's animal control service still has no idea who owns the snake that was found slithering in a parking lot near Hess Village last week.

"We've had no inquiries whatsoever," said Cal Burnett, animal control supervisor.

The four-foot ball python was found on August 7 around 3 a.m. in the area of King Street West and Hess Street. Animal control had been looking for its owner, but now is looking for anyone interested in adopting it to come forward.

The ball python is a "fairly docile, fairly common kind of snake," Burnett says. "It's easy to handle and doesn't get excessively large."

That said, he knows many people have zero interest in adopting a snake at all. "For some, three inches long is too big," he laughed.

Burnett says the fact that two New Brunswick boys were strangled in their sleep by a python that escaped an exotic pet store just a few weeks ago no doubt has people on edge about snakes.

"There's a heightened awareness right now, for sure," he said.

The city only deals with about 10 snake-related calls each year, and most of those come in the summer. "They don't do too well in the winter," Burnett said.

"We just don't get a lot of snakes that are loose over the course of a year."

This particular breed of snake is allowed under the city's responsible pet ownership bylaw, but it has to be kept in a "secure, escape-proof enclosure," Burnett said.

The fine for one getting out starts at $125 but can go as high as $10,000.