Python found at the back of a store at Richmond mall

A python was found by employees of a Wind Mobile store in Richmond’s Lansdowne mall last night.

At about 5:30, they found a metre-long snake in their back room. Nobody was hurt.

Police do not know how it got there. The mall does not have a pet store.

They think someone might have dumped it in the mall, or someone carried it in and it got away from them.

It’s now at a reptile rescue in Richmond.

The animal, which has been nicknamed Wind, is a two-year-old royal python.

Val Lofvendahl with Reptile Rescue, Adoption and Education Society says it is a very young snake, as pythons can live to be up to 40 years old.

Lofvendahl says it is one of the most common pet snakes and is not dangerous or venomous.

She says Wind was a little dehydrated, but not emaciated when she was found.

The snake will stay at the rescue centre until they find someone to adopt it.