An albino python snake measuring 4 meters in length was captured this Wednesday, March 5, in the late afternoon at Fonte da Benémola, near Querença, in the interior of the municipality of Loulé, by two ICNF nature guards.
The exotic reptile was spotted, around 16 pm, by a family of tourists who were taking a walk in Fonte da Benémola, a protected site under the jurisdiction of the Loulé City Council.
Tourists filmed the animal with their mobile phone and contacted the RIAS – Center for the Recovery and Research of Wild Animals, in Quinta de Marim (Olhão), where the headquarters of the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation (ICNF) in the Algarve is also located. .
But, as the RIAS does not deal with species that are not indigenous, the GNR's SEPNA was contacted. However, taking into account that an ICNF patrol was in the vicinity of Fonte da Benémola, nature watchers ended up taking care of the capture of the albino python, which was found at sunset, rolled up to keep warm , as seen in the photo below.
The animal, however, is at the headquarters of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, at Quinta de Marim, in Olhão, until what to do with it is decided. «It will probably be sent to a zoo, here in the Algarve or in Lisbon, depending on who is able to keep the piton», said Joaquim Castelão Rodrigues, ICNF regional director, contacted by Sul Informação.
Castelão Rodrigues lamented the «unconsciousness of people who abandon an animal such as a python snake of this size». This official even called for people who have exotic animals with them not to abandon them or leave them in the wild, instead choosing to contact entities such as ICNF or even the GNR's SEPNA.
Despite saying that this is the first time that a snake of an exotic species, with these dimensions, has been caught in the Algarve, Castelão Rodrigues said that, at the headquarters of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, numerous turtles are also in the custody of ICNF «that people buy it because they think it's very funny, but then, when they get bored, they drop it anywhere».
The albino python, from its scientific name Python molurus bivitatus, comes from the southern part of the Asian continent. This snake lives in wet forests and rocky areas close to water and can be submerged for up to 20 minutes.
The albino pyton snake is a robust species, although quite rare in nature as it is an easy target for predators, due to its white and yellow coloration, which is very difficult to go unnoticed. It can reach 8 meters and weigh 80 kilos. It's not poisonous.
The python is a constrictor snake, that is, when it hunts prey, it squeezes it in its rings and gradually squeezes it until it suffocates, swallowing it whole after death. It feeds on rats, rabbits, birds and small mammals.
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