Cebu City Zoo manager Giovanni Romarate (leftmost) inspect the discovered python with zoo keepers. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
A python measuring about four meters sent diners in a roadside eatery into hysterics after it suddenly emerged from its hiding place in a grassy portion of a construction site at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City shortly before noon yesterday.
Dario Searez, 43, said the python suddenly emerged from where a backhoe excavator was operating. The equally-terrified creature slithered underneath a dump truck.
“Ako na lang ang nidakop kay nahadlok man sila kay dako kaayo. Basta kay naapil tingali to og kawot sa backhoe. Unya mao to nikamang padung sa ilawom sa dump truck unya naatrasan,’’ said Searez. (Everybody was scared so I caught it. It crawled under a dump truck which ran over it.)
The snake was turned over to Insp. Rex Campos of the Mobile Patrol Group.
The injured python had fractured its bones, the reason why keepers from the Cebu City Zoo who examined the snake could not accurately measure its length.
Giovanni Romarate, the manager of the zoo, stitched the python’s wounds.
“Diri lang ni siya hantod maayo kay mas safe, kung buhi-an ni sa wild muadto nis community unya mas delikado nga masakitan kay mahadlok man ang mga tawo,” said Romarate.
(It’s better off here where it’s safe, than in the wild where it will scare people and may get hurt again.)
Although not the biggest, the Asian python is said to be one of the world’s longest snakes, growing to as long as 6.9 meters or over 22 feet when reaching adulthood.