Kitchener-Waterloo

Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society still seeking escaped python's owner

The Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society is still trying to speak to a woman who says she owns the snake that was reported to have escaped last week in the Mill Street and Courtland Avenue. The woman was later quoted by a Hamilton television station, saying snake was under her fridge.

'We will continue to respond to any sightings of the snake,' humane society official says

The Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society is still hoping to speak to the owner of a snake, which may have been a Burmese python similar to this one, that was reported as having escaped from a Kitchener residence last week. (Stephen M. Secor/Science/Associated Press)

The mystery surrounding a snake that may or may not have gone missing from its owner's home continues as the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society also searches for a conversation with the snake's owner.

"We still haven't talked with the owner to verify the snake is in the house," Kathy Innocente, the society's director of operations, told CBC News.

On July 26, a two meter long snake – reported by CBC News as a possible Burmese python, a type of constrictor snake, but by other media outlets as a boa constrictor – was reported missing from a residence near Mill Street and Courtland Avenue area of Kitchener.

Staff from the humane society spoke with someone in the residence on Wednesday who confirmed the snake went missing. It was not believed to be dangerous to people, but may have preyed on rodents like mice and squirrels.

'Still trying to speak with the owner directly'

But two days after the snake reportedly went missing and following an unconfirmed sighting of it under a bush, a woman told a Hamilton television station that the snake the humane society was looking for was her pet, and it wasn't missing.

"He's in my house, he's coiled under my fridge," Miranda Beechy told CHCH, identifying the snake as a two metre long boa constrictor named Darko.

Innocente said more than a week later, they are still working to confirm with Beechy that the snake she told the television station about is the same one previously reported missing and at large.

"We will continue to respond to any sightings of the snake; we have received only one early last week and nothing since," Innocente said. "We are still trying to speak with the owner directly and will continue to do so."