Manila is no stranger to the occasional exotic animal sightings, though finding a python lurking underneath one’s car would understandably be cause for concern.
A video showing a reticulated python hiding under a car’s hood made the rounds on social media, as helpful passersby tried to pull the snake out of its hiding spot.
The community page Alabang Bulletin posted the video online, claiming it had come from a resident, and the video was taken at the BF Homes neighborhood in Parañaque.
“Sent by a neighbor: ‘In Starbucks BF this morning: An uninvited guest found hiding under my car. Was lucky enough people saw it and alerted me or I would have brought it home. Good thing BF guards and other passersby helped capture it. BF guard secured it and brought somewhere.’”
While people expressed concern that a python was on the loose in the city, many found amusement in the situation.
“Oh come on, bestie just wanted a ride,” one jabbed.
“Bestie, why hide by the tire? There’s a passenger seat right there,” another quipped.
“This is when you think they’re a third-wheel but they’re actually a snake,” one commenter joked.
While it is unclear how the snake ended up at a Starbucks parking lot, reticulated pythons in the Philippines are more common than one thinks, being endemic in local rainforests as well as in Southeast Asia. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has also previously retrieved these pythons found around the city, which usually navigate their way through rivers and estuaries.
Reticulated pythons are listed as “Least Concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). That said, the hunting, killing, and illegal trading of reticulated pythons have contributed to their decline in numbers in the wild.
