BRIDGETON, N.J. -- A 7-foot python that was improperly shipped to New Jersey on a UPS truck escaped from its box Wednesday and slithered around the vehicle before it was captured, officials said.
The driver, whose name was not released, discovered the python during a delivery stop and contacted animal-control officers and police.
"We got it up against the corner, pinned its head down and pulled it out of the truck," Patrolman Brian Murphy told the Bridgeton News. "They won't hurt you when they know you're not a threat."
The snake had been shipped overnight to a Bridgeton resident who bought the animal on the Internet from a New Mexico resident, the newspaper reported. Police said the snake was mailed from Las Cruces, N.M.
Murphy said the box that the snake apparently chewed through was about 1 1/2 feet wide, 1 1/2 feet long, and 6 inches high with one air hole.
The snake was being held at the Cohanzick Zoo in Bridgeton on Wednesday while the state Division of Fish and Wildlife investigated.
Norman Black, a spokesman for Atlanta-based UPS, said putting a python in a box doesn't meet the requirements for shipping animals: "As a general rule, you cannot put any kind of animal in a box and give it to us."
Authorities believe the sender lied to UPS agents about the contents of the box, the Bridgeton News reported.
The driver, whose name was not released, discovered the python during a delivery stop and contacted animal-control officers and police.
"We got it up against the corner, pinned its head down and pulled it out of the truck," Patrolman Brian Murphy told the Bridgeton News. "They won't hurt you when they know you're not a threat."
The snake had been shipped overnight to a Bridgeton resident who bought the animal on the Internet from a New Mexico resident, the newspaper reported. Police said the snake was mailed from Las Cruces, N.M.
Murphy said the box that the snake apparently chewed through was about 1 1/2 feet wide, 1 1/2 feet long, and 6 inches high with one air hole.
The snake was being held at the Cohanzick Zoo in Bridgeton on Wednesday while the state Division of Fish and Wildlife investigated.
Norman Black, a spokesman for Atlanta-based UPS, said putting a python in a box doesn't meet the requirements for shipping animals: "As a general rule, you cannot put any kind of animal in a box and give it to us."
Authorities believe the sender lied to UPS agents about the contents of the box, the Bridgeton News reported.