Cambridge python: Escaped 9ft snake recaptured

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Asiatic reticulated pythonImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Reticulated pythons are the longest snakes in the world - typically growing between 10 and 20 feet

A 9ft (2.7m) python that escaped from its owner through an open window on Saturday has been recaptured.

Turin was spotted up a tree at about 19:00 BST by one of its owner's neighbours about 160ft (50m) away from its home on Lovell Road in Cambridge.

Cambridgeshire Police tried to find it on Saturday night and later warned it posed "a risk" to small animals.

The snake's owner told the BBC he believed Turin was OK, but he had scratches, scrapes and a swollen gum.

He said he planned to take the male reticulated python to a vet for a check up.

Image caption,

The owner put flyers through neighbours' doors after the snake escaped

Three-year-old Turin escaped through a bay window when a friend was "snake-sitting".

The owner told the BBC he heard someone shouting "snake, snake, snake" just before 19:00 on Thursday and he then got a call saying Turin had been found in a tree in a garden.

He needed the help of several of his neighbours to retrieve the python.

Steve Allain, the chairman of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Amphibian and Reptile Group, said the python had not been a danger to people.

The snake is not venomous but wraps around its prey and suffocates them.