Greene Co. Man Finds 8-Foot Python In His Backyard

MATHER, Pa. (KDKA) -- A Greene County man got quite the surprise last weekend when he found a python in his backyard.

"I wasn't expecting to open up and find an eight-foot Python in my backyard," Lou Pecjak said.

Pecjak spotted the reticulated python on Sunday when he went outside to feed the crows behind his fence at his home on Seventh Street in Mather. The python was coiled up next to the fence.

"I really wasn't panicked at first, but I was like, that's a python," Pecjak said.

After making some calls, Pecjak got ahold of Bill Lubich, an officer with the Southwest Region of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

"He had like a pole lasso with a noose on it, and grabbed ahold of it behind its head. Lifted it up, grabbed ahold of it with his hands and put it down into a raccoon cage," Pecjak said.

Some of the neighborhood kids looked on in amazement, like 11-year-old Bobby Lawrence.

Bobby: "It was kinda freaky though."

KDKA's Amy Wadas: "Why was it freaky?"

Bobby: "It felt weird, and kept looking at me the whole time."

"Once it got in the cage and we got to pet it, it felt like really silky and I touched the bottom of it and it felt weird. With the top, it didn't feel as weird," 9-year-old Shawn Martisko said.

Pecjak says he thinks the owner of the snake either let it go or it somehow escaped on its own.

"I would say it was a pet. I mean, obviously, it was tame when we got it picked up. Put it in the cage, and wasn't aggressive or anything," Pecjak said. "Figuring with these cold nights, it wouldn't have lived much longer. Luckily for Bill, he rescued it in time."

The snake was taken to M & M Reptile Rescue and Rehoming based out of Morgantown, West Virginia.

It's being nursed back to health there, and they hope to find the snake's owner. If the owner cannot be tracked down, it will be adopted out.

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