Snake snatched slithering on street

A 12-foot Burmese python that escaped from its home south of Abita Springs a week ago was captured late Wednesday after it slithered out of the woods and a neighbor grabbed it by the tail. "It came out of the woods and ended up in a ditch," said Greg Gaines, a local snake expert who was helping officials look for the snake, which escaped Friday. "People saw it, and they freaked out big time." Duff, the snake, apparently slipped out a window of a camper home that served as his cage in the sparsely populated neighborhood off Little Creek Road northeast of the Interstate 12 and Louisiana 59 interchange. The owner, Mark Stansbury, 23, said he had just thrown a raccoon into the camper for the snake's weekly meal. Usually, the snake feeds on rabbits or chickens, he said. Gaines believes the raccoon clawed its way through a screen and the snake, which was not used to eating raccoons, went out the same way. Neighbor Matt Strunc, 14, said he saw the python, one of the world's largest breeds of snake, moving across the road Wednesday about 10 p.m. and called for help. Within minutes, sheriff's deputies and several neighbors had gathered around the snake to await its owner's arrival. "It was just sitting alongside the road," said Steve Schiffer, 39. "But he got a little antsy and wanted to go up into the woods." So Schiffer, who said, "I was more scared of the snake than he was of me," grabbed Duff by the tail and dug in his heels as the snake tried to get away. "He's definitely 12 feet of muscle," he said. "At times I was squatting, at times I had my foot on the tree" to brace himself. Meanwhile, the people around him kept back. "Nobody wanted to help," he said. Schiffer said he asked deputies to keep a flashlight shined on the snake's head. "I didn't want to be around his head," said Schiffer, who held on to the snake for 10 to 15 minutes. "My main focus was on his head." A python, a type of constrictor, kills by striking its prey with its mouth, then quickly wrapping its body around it to suffocate it. Residents of the area had been alerted to Duff's escape last week, and many feared for the safety of their pets and small children, keeping a close watch on them this week. In the wake of Duff's escape, St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis issued a news release Thursday asking officials to review local exotic-animal ordinances, which do not include nonpoisonous snakes such as the Burmese python. "While the Burmese python is nonpoisonous, it may possibly be dangerous," said Dr. Brent Robbins, director of parish animal services. "We will review the entire ordinance before making any recommendations." Stansbury also has been ordered by the parish to obtain a permit to keep the snake. He said officials from animal control are expected to return to his home next week to ensure that the snake's home is safe and secure. Stansbury was busy Thursday building Duff a new home of plywood and heavy wire screening. "He ain't going to get out of this one," he said.

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