A cellphone store at Lansdowne Centre shut its doors a little early Monday evening as a local reptile rescue shelter member retrieved a snake from the premises.
According to Jason Roberts, the mall's general manager, the four-foot-long long, two-inch diameter critter - a young ball python - was located and safely tucked into a box then taken away to a local reptile shelter around closing time.
"It's really weird," Roberts said. "Nothing like this has ever happened in the mall before."
Mall staff were busy Tuesday morning trying to figure out if the snake somehow managed to make its way into the shopping centre by itself, was a pet of one of the adjacent store owners that escaped, or was dropped off at the Wind Mobile store as a practical joke.
When the News called the store, staff declined to comment on the matter.
There are no pet stores at the mall, leaving Roberts to believe the snake - which was docile enough to be retrieved by hand - may have been placed there.
"It's definitely not from around here," Roberts said.
Since the snake's discovery was close to closing time, the incident did not affect other businesses at the mall.
Val Lofvendahl, who has run the Richmond-based Reptile Rescue, Adoption & Education Society (reptilerescuerichmond.org) for the past 11 years and was the one who retrieved the snake, figures it was dropped off at the mall.
"I doubt he'd have been able to make it there by himself. The nearby residences are just too far away, and the weather is too cold. He would not have survived a long journey," she said.
When Lofvendahl arrived at the cellphone store, staff were anxiously waiting on a bench outside. "They looked terrified," she said, adding she was told the python was in the back storage room.
"They said he was discovered wrapped around the microwave, probably seeking some warmth," Lofvendahl said. "When I got to him, he was sitting on top of a box."
The species can grow up to about five feet long and live up to 25 years. Judging by his size it's estimated the snake is about two years old.
"He looks pretty well fed, but a bit dehydrated. He has a bit of scale rot, which means he likely wasn't kept in an appropriate cage. But overall, he's in pretty good shape," she said.
Lofvendahl has since named the python Wind, after the store, and will keep him at the shelter for the next month or so to ensure he is eating well and is healthy enough to be put up for adoption.
"He is a really nice snake, very docile," said Lofvendahl, estimating she performs about half a dozen snake rescues a year locally, each adding to the 50 or so reptiles she has on hand at the shelter.
