GEORGE TOWN: Numerous offers of up to RM10,000 are coming in for the huge python caught recently, but the authorities say there will be no successful bidder.
The male python, said to be 7.5m long and weighing about 250kg, is not for sale and will be released back into the wild.
The reptile was in the spotlight shortly after it was caught at a road flyover construction site in Paya Terubong on Thursday.
Civil Defence Department (JPAM) member Romzi Musa said several people offered to buy the snake when they came to have a look at the reptile at the department’s southwest district operations centre in Jalan Dato Ismail Hashim in Bayan Lepas.
“One of them offered us RM10,000. Of course, we said no,” he said yesterday.
Romzi said its centre had attracted a large crowd since the python was temporarily placed under its custody.
He said the reptile would be handed over to the Wildlife and National Parks Department within a week.
“The public are welcomed to see the python between 5pm and 7pm,” he said.
Some who visited the centre yesterday had the opportunity to touch the reptile when it was brought out of its cage and given a hosing down to keep it cool.
Cellophane tape was used to wrap its mouth as a safety measure.
Bicycle dealer Ng Kok Lam, 54, said he heard about the snake through friends and social media.
“I had to see it for myself and take a photo before it is gone,” he said, adding that it was truly magnificent.
Student Hafiz Hairol Hasni, 13, who was spotted with his two friends admiring the reptile, said they had visited it 10 times over the past three days.
“This is the first time we got to touch it,” he said excitedly.
Housewife Azdawati Othman, 36, who came with her husband Yusman Yusof, 38, and four children, said her kids loved animals and wanted to see the python.
The snake was first spotted by workers building the flyover.
Six JPAM personnel were deployed to catch the reptile which they found under a fallen tree, about 100m from the nearest road.
It was the largest and longest python caught in Penang so far.
