The ball python that was on the loose for two weeks has been caught, thanks to a Beamsville man and some quick work with an umbrella.
On Saturday at around 10 p.m. as Beamsville resident Stephen Campbell pulled out of his driveway on Ashby Ave. to go to a local store, his headlights caught the four-foot plus snake on the road.
“I pulled over, as it was making its way to my neighbours garden,” he told Niagara Info.
The snake had been seen earlier by another neighbour on a path behind his house on Ashby Drive in Beamsville, but it wasn’t called into police.
Campbell called his daughter and she came to help him and also called the Niagara police.
Campbell said when the police officer showed up he wasn’t immediately sure what to do with the snake. “He said: ‘Are we qualified to do this?’ I said: ‘You’re more qualified than me. You have a sidearm’,” said Campbell.
Luckily, Campbell had an umbrella in the trunk of his car. He used it to wrangle the snake into a cardboard box.
A few neighbours also came out for a peek and a few selfie photos with the snake.
Campbell said he is not brave. “A brave person would have picked it up with their hands,” he said lightheartedly.
The snake was later picked up by a worker from the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society who were called by police for assistance.
As for the famed umbrella, it is now back in the trunk of Campbell’s car. “But my wife and daughter said they’d never use it again,” he said with a laugh.
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Listen to a Newstalk 610 CKTB interview with snake saver Stephen Campbell