What turned out to be a great Christmas gift for one person, was not the case for most residents in an Austin, Texas, neighborhood!
A giant, 16-foot python was caught in the Coronado Hills neighborhood earlier this week and reunited with its owner in Dallas after going missing several months ago.
The Austin Animal Center said it got a call on Monday after someone reported the giant snake, which apparently had been spotted slithering through the neighborhood since July.
Due to the cold temperatures this week in Texas, the snake was lethargic enough that a couple of residents were able to catch it and keep it in their garage. When an officer arrived at the residence, he was greeted by an unhappy 16-foot-long albino reticulated python.
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Some staff members at the animal center said they recalled seeing a lost and found post for a large albino snake a few months earlier, and after searching online with no success, they contacted a former intake staff member for assistance. Sure enough, she immediately found the owner's post and information on the neighborhood social networking app Nextdoor.
Staff from the animal center called the owner, who identified a unique feature on the python and drove the next day to pick her up. At the time the python went missing, the owner was just visiting Austin from Dallas when his car was broken into and the tote which was carrying the snake was stolen.
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The snake was kept in temporary overnight housing before Austin Zoo took it in for a day until the owner was reunited with his long-lost pet.
