The coast is clear.
After four days of public scare, one local nature expert found a missing four-and-a-half-foot ball python underneath the Athens residence of the woman who released it.
Dave Sagan, a natural resources instructor at Hocking College, discovered the snake under the mobile home that Dana Boyles, 57, shares with her daughter in Sand Stone Terrace Trailer Park.
“So technically it never left her residence,” Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly wrote in a Facebook post Thursday.
Boyles released the snake Sunday night, and the Sheriff’s Office began its search Monday after investigating a court-ordered possession release at the residence where the snake was let go.
The python, which Sagan said probably wouldn’t have harmed anyone, is now being kept at Hocking College's natural resources department.
It’s unknown if the animal will be returned to the Boyle, who told one of Kelly’s deputies that she released the snake because she could no longer afford to feed it, according to another post on Kelly’s Facebook page dated June 24.
“She told Deputy (Chris) Tomsha she did not want a hungry python in her house and that she hoped to run over it with a mower later,” according to Kelly’s Facebook page, which is often the main source of external communications from his office.
This particular species is from the African Savannah and — had the snake not been found — would likely have died from cold weather in October or November, Sagan said, adding that snakes are difficult to locate because of shady areas where they hide from the sun.
When animals are no longer wanted, Sagan said calling animal shelters is always a better option than letting an animal go into the wild.
“She didn’t have to do this,” he said.
kf398711@ohiou.edu
