Sagacious Serpent

Someone whose screen name is the same as the gallery I show at asked me for another true animal story. Here it is, plus a bonus at the end:

I met a remarkable woman at a workshop in Tucson, Arizona. After one of the sessions we went to dinner at a local Indian (East) restaurant and she told this story amongst others: Her main work was in acclimating zoo animals to new and mostly far better environments when there was restructuring of many large zoos. There was a python at one such zoo that had been in a cage display of very small dimensions. So small, in fact, that there was no possibility of the poor creature ever unwinding to it's full 17' length. It was, I gathered, at the most coiled into thirds or less.

Anyway, the python was released into its new pen which would not only accommodate it's full length, but would allow it to move around freely in that state as well as climgb trees, etc. Unfortunately, the keepers found upon its release that it remained in the folded up configuration that it had become habituated to in the earlier cage. Mentally it could not comprehend the fact of its new freedom and remained psychicaly caged in a small space. How so like the majority of the human kind. What do you expect then, from a snake? So they called this lady to work with it.

Well, she did that, and spent three days with the creature, acclimating it to its new, greatly enhanced territory. After three days of massage and cajoling, she got it out to its full length in the sun. Soon thereafter, the python began to move about, tentatively at first, and then with obvious enthusiasm. Her work was done, and she went about her business in other parts of the world.

About a year later she happened to be in the vicinity of the zoo where she had worked with the structured serpent and went there to visit and see how the creature was faring. As she entered the zoo, she noticed something unusual. In the center of the place there was an elevated mound and there was a crowd of people there. She stopped and looked at the scene and soon discerned that there was some kind of a jungle movie being made up there, the set and crew being surrounded by a good number of onlookers. Suddenly, as if Moses was parting the Red Sea, the crowd opened to form a passage that was directly in line with her.

At this point in her story, as she did relating many of her tales, she said with great enthusiasm; "SO!! THERE I was!" she looked up at the commotion and saw some ripple of movement heading in her direction. IN short order she realized what it was and was somewhat astonished. In a few moments, the very python she had workd with was in front of her, with it's head up at the level of her face, weaving around and flicking its tongue! It had remembered her scent and recognized her as she came into the compound! She embraced the snake "hello," and to the amazement of the crowd, walked back up to the set with the snake trailing behind.

Could I invent something like this? But wait! I remember another python story that happened to me. It was again in Tucson, AZ. I lived in the old Freeman farmhouse off of First Avenue. There was a 7-11 at the corner and I often walked down there. Well, this one day I got there and there were five police cruisers. I knew the clerk who was outside having a cigarette, and commented "Another beer run, eh?" He said "No, you wouldn't believe it, what just happened!" I said, "OK, spill; a gunman, or what?" He said "Nothing like that. They just caught an eleven foot long python in front of the store. It took eight officers and animal control people to catch it and cage it. Strong sucker!" "You are B.S.ing me," I said. "Nope. Read about it in the paper tomorrow. Some guy's pet got away and slithered down here. People were freaking." OK, so I checked it out in the paper the next day, and sure enough, there was a pretty portrait of the python and its captors in front of the store. That was a week after someone's horse got loose in the alley by our house and the neighborhood turned out to see the doings.