EXCLUSIVE: Owner speaks after 11ft, 50lb python escapes from home
COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) - Update:
A local family is still in shock after an uninvited guest slithered toward their north Columbus home.
The family spoke exclusively with News Leader 9 to gain answers about a huge python they found trying to get through the back gate of their home on Raleigh Court.
"It was a loud hissing noise like, {makes noise}, it was super loud."
It was a sound unlike anything Caitlyn Burgess says she has ever heard before. She and her husband were letting their dog out in the backyard of their home when they noticed the python heading for their door step.
"It was coming through the fence and we see it's all white belly...and then we walk over and take a peek at it and notice that it is a giant snake," says Burgess.
Cellphone video of the capture sent to us by Jarrod's Affordable Wildlife Eviction in Columbus showed the owner, Jarrod Yasenchok, jumping over a chain-linked fence that separates the Burgess home from a wooded area.
He said it's unlike anything he's ever seen before.
"It looked like a sea serpent. It was just standing up looking and I said 'Oh my God."
Yasenchok put the 11-foot, 50 lb python in a trash can and sealed it with rope.
Neighbors wondered if it's legal to have a snake that size in Columbus. They say it's an issue that can't be thrown away.
"It'll just get bigger. She has it in her house. It was scary," Burgess said.
Yasenchok said the snake belonged to a woman that lived about two blocks away. The woman told him she was on vacation and the snake must have gotten out when he as being fed by her sons. The snake was reported to have been out of his cage for at least two weeks.
According to city officials, it is not against the law to own pythons in Columbus. Georgia law only prohibits venomous snakes.
Although pythons are not venomous, they can still be very dangerous.
Burgess said she planned to snake-proof her home.
"Hopefully that snake will never get out again," Burgess added.
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