Pet Python Turned Loose On U.S. 70

MCDOWELL COUNTY, N.C.,None — It could have been a hisssstory-making moment in McDowell.

Some folks traveling on U.S. 70 West near Cane Creek Road around 7:30 p.m. Sunday came upon a traffic jam. It wasn't caused by a wreck or construction but by a 9-foot, 5-inch python in the road.

Jackie Mentink said she and her husband Bill were on their way home from church and spotted the animal beside the highway.

They turned their car around and pulled over.

"We knew it was a huge snake, but we didn't know it was a python" until they got a closer look.

Bill, with the help of three others, Dillon Salladin, Ethan Hester and Channing Stockman, wrestled the massive reptile into a plastic container.

"They fought with it for seven or eight minutes," Jackie stated. "It was obviously someone's pet."

Capt. Ricky Crisp of the McDowell County Sheriff's Office tends to agree with Jackie.

"Evidently someone had it as a pet and let it go," said the captain. "There was a container sitting where the snake was found."

Crisp stated that the Sheriff's Office received a call at 7:42 p.m. Sunday that a snake was causing a traffic block on U.S. 70 West near the second entrance to Cane Creek Road.

The python was given to deputies when they arrived on the scene. Crisp added that one of the officers took the snake home Sunday night, and it was turned over to Animal Control Monday.

Animal Control officers have already found the snake a new home in Nebo.

WSOC