Australian woman rescues python after finding it in supermarket shelf
- Helaina Alati, a trained snake catcher, encountered the 3-metre (10-foot) long reptile in the spice aisle of a store in Sydney
- She said the non-venomous snake’s head came to within 20cm (8 inches) of her own
Helaina Alati was browsing the spice aisle of an Australian supermarket when she came face-to-face with a huge snake.
The head of the 3-metre (10-foot) long non-venomous diamond python emerged through a space in a shelf above the spice jars in the Sydney store.
“I was in the spice aisle just looking for something to put on my chicken that night so I didn’t initially see it because it was curled up way back behind the little jars of spices,” Alati said on Wednesday. “I kind of turned to my right and it poked its head out.”
Alati, who coincidently is a trained snake catcher, said the serpent’s head came to within 20 centimetres (8 inches) of her own.
“Thankfully, I have a background in snakes so I was pretty calm about it. It definitely shocked me a little bit because I wasn’t expecting it,” she added.
I knew straight away it was non-venomous, it wasn’t going to be a problem for anyone
Supermarket chain Woolworths confirmed in a statement that a “slippery and rare customer was spotted in the spice aisle” on Monday morning at its store in the suburb of Glenorie on Sydney’s northwest outskirts.