A grocery store turned into a snake rescue in Australia when a 10-foot-long non-venomous python slid through the racks to greet a woman customer.
The 25-year-old, Helaina Alati, was at a Sydney store on Monday when the snake slithered out.
Alati was not expecting a snake at the supermarket. But fortunately for both parties, Alati is a wildlife rescuer and familiar with snakes.
“I just turned my head and he was about 20cm from my face, just looking straight at me,” she told the BBC.
She did a double-take but stayed calm. No one else was around. Recognising it instantly as a diamond python, Alati knew it wasn’t poisonous as it protruded and flicked its tongue.
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“He was looking straight at me the whole time, almost like he was saying: ‘Can you take me outside please?’” she said.
After recording a video, Alati alerted staff and told them she could help them get it out.
She retrieved a snake bag from her home, returned to the store, “tapped him on the tail and he just slithered in”.
She then released it away from houses in bushland – a natural habitat for the species around Sydney.