garrison hilliard

Deputies handle a 6-foot python found Thursday in Anderson Township.
Credit: Mark Magna, Facilities Manager, Anderson Twp.

By Jennifer Baker

jbaker@enquirer.com

ANDERSON TWP. – Hamilton County sheriff’s officials are trying to
figure out how one of the largest snakes in the world – a 6-foot-long
Burmese python – came to be in the back lot of a fast food restaurant
off Beechmont Avenue Thursday.

A Rumpke driver spotted the snake on top of his truck just before
11 a.m. as he loaded the contents of a Dumpster into his vehicle at
Kentucky Fried Chicken, 7716 Beechmont Ave., said Steve Barnett,
sheriff’s spokesman.

Lt. Mike Hartzler, commander of the Anderson Township district,
was summoned. He discovered the snake on the ground with its tail
wrapped around a broom the Rumpke driver used to try to round up the
reptile.

Using the broom, Hartzler lifted the snake up and placed it into a
cardboard box. The snake appeared sluggish but revived once it was
inside the box and became more active. The SPCA retrieved the snake.

Reached Friday, an unruffled Hartzler — who jokingly calls himself
“AKA Crocodile Hunter� – said he wasn’t scared to encounter such a
large, deadly snake.

“I was more concerned for the animal,� said the soft-spoken law
enforcement veteran, who has been with the sheriff’s office 31 years.
“I didn’t know how long he had been out or where he was. The Rumpke
driver pulled him off the truck and he fell onto the ground. I wanted
to get him out of the sun and into the box where he could relax a
little bit until the SPCA got there. He was fine. He wasn’t aggressive
at all.�

Sheriff’s officials suspect the snake was in the Dumpster and fell out
when the Rumpke driver emptied it. They also assume the snake was
someone’s pet.

“A lot of people, unfortunately, have these kind of exotic pets and
then when they can’t take care of them, they just turn them loose,� he
said.

Hartzler said the reptile was the largest one he’s ever encountered.
“I just graduated from Xavier University with a master’s degree in
criminal justice, but I didn’t take any zoology classes,� he quipped.
“I guess I credit everything I learned from watching the (TV show)
Crocodile Hunter.�

Burmese pythons mostly eat birds and mammals. They use sharp teeth to
seize their prey and then wrap their body around it and squeeze it to
death.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/news/2011/06/17/python-found-in-anderson-twp/