Helaina Alati was walking down the spice aisle of an Australian supermarket when she came face to face with a huge snake. The head of the 10-foot-long non-venomous diamond python emerged through a space on a shelf above the spice jars of the Sydney store.
AP
“I was in the spice aisle just looking for something to put on the chicken that night, so I didn’t see it initially because it was rolled up behind the little spice jars,” Alati said Wednesday. “I turned to my right and pulled my head out.”
Alati, who coincidentally is a trained snake catcher, said the snake’s head reached less than eight inches.
“Fortunately, I have a background in snakes, so I was pretty calm. It definitely surprised me a bit because I didn’t expect it,” he said.
The Woolworths supermarket chain confirmed in a statement that a “slippery, rare customer was seen in the spice aisle” on Monday morning at its store in the suburb of Glenorie, on the north-western outskirts of Sydney.
“Once it was spotted, members of our team reacted quickly and calmly to cordon off the area for the safety of customers,” the statement said.
Alati said he used his phone to make a video of the snake as he stretched his body from the shelf to the hallway before reporting the intruder to supermarket staff.
“I said, ‘I’m going to get my snake bag.’ Honestly, I think they thought I was a little crazy. I don’t think they knew what to say when I said, ‘There’s a 10-foot python in your hallway.’ said Alati.
He retrieved the snake-catching bag from his nearby house and grabbed the snake, which had then retreated back to the shelf. He then released her into the nearby woods.
It is unclear how or when the snake entered the supermarket.
“Only in Australia!” Hilary Leigh wrote in a Facebook post while sharing a video of the snake. “Luckily, there was a lovely person who knew this kind of species very well and safely cared for the pretty culprit.”
Alati, who was trained to catch venomous snakes when she volunteered working for a Sydney wildlife rescue organization several years ago, suspected the snake was a male looking for a mate.
“I knew right away that it wasn’t poisonous, that it wasn’t aggressive, that it wouldn’t be a problem for anyone,” Alati said.
“Anyway, I think everyone was a little excited. We’re all locked up, so it seemed like the biggest excitement we’ve had for a while,” he said.
According to the Australian Zoo, diamond pythons are black with cream or yellow diamond-shaped spots that cover the entire length of their body.
“They contract their prey to kill them and then consume them whole,” the zoo said.