A “feisty” five-foot python was captured by police from Wandsworth’s King George’s Park on Monday night.
The carpet python, native to warmer climates such as Australia and Indonesia, was found slithering next to a fence, just days after two royal pythons were found in a street in nearby Twickenham.
MPS Wandsworth’s Superintendent Steve Wallace described the capture on Tuesday in a series of tweets and revealed how officers caught the creature in a ballistic bag before delivering it to Putney Animal Hospital.
Carpet pythons are not venomous and kill their prey – small mammals and birds – through constriction.
Photos: @MPSSuptWallace
The snakes are being cared for at South Essex Wildlife Hospital, according to an RSPCA spokeswoman. Their owners are not known at this stage.
The spokeswoman said: “Carpet pythons are not venomous, but can grow quite large - up to six feet long - so it could have become unmanageable for the owner.
"It is still unclear whether these two cases are connected.
"We see a rise in abandoned or escaped reptiles during the summer months, so it could be that these snakes were seen because they were active, due to the warm weather this weekend.
"These snakes are not native to the UK so are likely to have been exotic pets. It is not known for sure whether they escaped, or were dumped."
2/2 Sgt Wainwright attended with a ballistic bag & handed it PC Terry who captured the animal - safely delivered to Putney animal hospital
— Supt Steve Wallace (@MPSSuptWallace) August 11, 2015
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