The reticulated python, which weighs almost 10 kilograms, was captured by animal keepers from the Wildlife Rescue Center at the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) after residents and policemen from CPD-Station 2 in Baler called them up for assistance.
Police said the python was discovered at around 6 a.m. on a mango tree located at the backyard of a certain Mr. Javier along Adams street. The sight of the huge reptile frightened several residents, who promptly sought help from experts.
Policarpio Nadado, an animal keeper, climbed up the mango tree to capture the python, but the branch where the reptile was curled up proved difficult to reach.
Wildlife rescuers and barangay tanods decided to cut instead the branches of the tree until the python fell on the ground.
Nadado was able to catch the python and place it inside a sack, but not before he was bitten.
Fortunately, Nadado was equipped with thick gloves and was unhurt.
The reptile was later turned over to the PAWB and is now confined at a huge enclosure with two other pythons.
Barangay Captain Martin Diño revealed that this was not the first time that a python was recovered in their community. In a span of two years, three pythons were captured in the area.
Several weeks ago, a python was discovered inside a house along M.H. del Pilar street. It managed to escape when residents tried to catch it.
Two weeks later, the same python returned to another house at the corner of M.H. del Pilar and San Antonio.
"The python we believe comes from the sewer. We are situated near a river so it is possible that it is was brought here by the current, especially now that rains are here again, increasing the volume of water in the river," Diño told The Star.
In a separate interview, Dr. Steven Toledo, in-charge of the Wildlife Rescue Center, said the captured reptile was an adult python.
Toledo said the python was healthy with no signs of having any ailments.
He said it was fortunate that the python was captured because a reptile that size is capable of swallowing or eating a baby. Although pythons are not poisonous snakes, they kill their prey by constricting them.
Under the care of the Wildlife Rescue Center, the python would be fed with three to four heads of live chicken twice a month, Toledo said.
Toledo told The Star that the python could be released back to its natural habitat in the future.
"The pythons usually go out of their hole when water reaches their habitat, which is sometimes due to heavy downpours. But in general, reptiles have to maintain certain body temperature to survive so when it’s hot outside, they stay in their hole and when it is cold they go out," Toledo explained.
"Pythons can normally be found in the rain forest, but they can also be found in human dwellings here in the city, in dirt piles and logs, in places where they can squeeze themselves, especially areas that have dirty surroundings but not necessarily dark areas, and in places where they can find food like rats," he added.
Toledo appealed to the public to make sure their surroundings are clean and piles of wood are cleared so that pythons do not reside near their houses.
"If they see a python or snakes, which they think need to be retrieved, they can call us for assistance at telephone number 9246031," Toledo said.