October 30, 2005
Firefighters capture python in shop near Paris
PARIS (Reuters) - A dozen French firefighters were called
in to cut their way to a 3 meter (10 ft) python hiding a shop
just outside Paris, an official said on Sunday.
"We were alerted by someone who said he had seen a snake on
the roof of a shop," a fire brigade spokesman said.
apartment," he said. Police had taken charge of the reptile.
The firefighters cut a hole in the false ceiling of a shop
in Gentilly, south of Paris, to retrieve the snake.
Pythons are among the longest species of snakes. They feed
on birds and small mammals, squeezing them to death.