North Starkville residents can breathe easy after a missing 7-foot-long boa constrictor was found and captured at a Cherokee Drive residence Sunday.
Starkville police and animal control officers were dispatched to the area after the snake was spotted on a homeowner’s back patio. A call to animal control went unreturned, but a Starkville Police Department announcement on social media said the snake would be returned to its owner, who resides a short distance away on West Garrard Road.
SPD issued a release last week warning residents of the missing snake after it escaped in mid-March.
The boa constrictor, it stated, posed a threat to small children and pets.
“Sure enough, it was stretched out there,” said former Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas, who lives next door to the residence where the snake was found. “I guess it’s pretty fortunate, because we had a bunch of kids over here for prom breakfast. If that thing had shown up in my yard then, it probably wouldn’t have made it back home unharmed.”
Dumas said his neighborhood is not far from the residence from which the snake escaped. A creek runs along the back of the properties, which more than likely gave it a natural avenue into the area.
Animal control officers had searched the neighborhood multiple times in the last several weeks, he said.
“I’m just glad he’s gone,” Dumas said.
News of the snake’s escape gained notoriety on social media after SPD’s original alert was published. A parody Twitter account was created last week had more than 500 followers as of Sunday afternoon.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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