A Winnipeg resident was surprised on Tuesday to discover a five-foot Ball python in a dumpster behind an apartment building.
The snake is non-venomous.
The resident called police; one of the officers used a small recycling box to corral and hold the snake.
The police then called the city’s animal services department.
They came right away and rescued the animal.
Ball pythons are a bit smaller than most pythons. Ball pythons are about one metre long.
Police said that finding a snake in this way is extremely rare—it almost never happens.
The person who discovered the snake had been putting out their garbage and heard a noise; they saw a snake moving around.
The snake will be held until a good home can be found for it.
A spokesperson for the animal services department said the snake had likely been deliberately abandoned in the dumpster by someone who no longer wanted it.
Ball pythons get their name from their tendency to curl up into a ball when frightened or stressed. They are the smallest of the African pythons and, according to Wikipedia, are popular as pets because they tend to be quite docile.
The person who abandoned the python could be charged under the Animal Care Act. They could face a fine of $10,000 and six months in jail.
Despite its ordeal, the snake was healthy and not hurt in any way.
Note: November 2015 — This article was updated with more information about Ball pythons and the word “non-poisonous” was changed to “non-venomous.”
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
How do you think the python got in the dumpster? Use information from the article and your imagination to make up a story that explains why and how the python got in the garbage.
Reading Prompt: Text Patterns
The events in this story are not told in order. Why do you think the author chose to write this way?
Put the events in sequence according to when each of them happened, or will happen in the future.
Primary
Recognize a few organizational patterns in texts of different types, and explain how the patterns help readers understand the texts (OME, Reading: 2.2).
Junior
Identify a variety of organizational pat- terns in a range of texts and explain how they help readers understand the texts (OME, Reading: 2.2).
Grammar Feature: Adjectives
The person who discovered the python must have been very surprised!
Think of at least 10 different adjectives to describe how they may have felt when they found the python in the dumpster.
