MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Despite a thermal imager and drones the Sabraton Snake still hasn’t been found and organized searches will not continue.
Morgantown’s Public Information Officer, Andrew Stacy, said Monongalia County Emergency Management brought the equipment out over the weekend as part of an organized effort to search for the allegedly 15-foot 4-inch diameter python that escaped from a truck in Sabraton on Thursday night. Staff from Exotic Jungle Pet Superstore and officers from the Morgantown Police Department also searched for the snake over the weekend. No more organized searches will take place, Stacy said.
Stacy said the python was last seen near Sheetz in Sabraton and Emily Sanders, owner of Exotic Jungle, said that’s probably where a snake as big as this one would stay near, Sanders said.
“He’s bedded down somewhere warm,” Sanders said. “He won’t be up out and about.”
Sanders said she stopped by the area on her way to and from work on Saturday and Sunday. She also planned to stop by on Monday night expressed concern for the snake as well as the area’s stray cat population, people and pets.
Sanders used to live in the area and said she’s told her old neighbors not to leave kids or pets unattended in the area.
She said the search effort has been hampered by a lack of good information about the snake and the direction it went. Some of the actions the snake reportedly took don’t match with what a snake would actually do.
A snake as big as this one is reported to be will likely stick close to the ground, Sanders said. Snakes can live up to 30 years and while specific information about the snake’s breed isn’t available, Sanders is operating on the assumption it’s a Burmese Python because of its reported size. She said the species can grow as round as a dinner plate.
The python could go a year between meals and won’t even want to eat when its as cold as it was on Monday morning, Sanders said. That said it’s certainly large enough to kill cats, dogs or even a small person.
If anyone spots the snake they should call 911 and avoid handling it, Stacy said.
