![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/7414821c2ff2756ee875a78512380f05.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nA royal python has been rescued after it was found in a woodland area.<\/p>\n
Cumbria Police received a report of the 4ft (1.2m) snake curled up beside Leighton Beck Road, Slack Head, at about 21:00 BST on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Officers and Mandy Christopher from Little Beasties, a pet shop and animal rescue service, helped rescue of the snake, which could have been abandoned or escaped from a premises.<\/p>\n
Christopher said she would allow a fortnight for the python to be claimed and then would put it up for adoption to “find it a good home”.<\/p>\n
Christopher said that royal pythons were “really docile and friendly snakes” so it “wouldn’t just attack anybody as they walked past”.<\/p>\n
She added that if it was abandoned, there could be a few factors leading to it, with one being that sometimes “people are not given the right information whether a snake is right for them”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A passer-by spotted the snake curled up in the bushes beside Leighton Beck Road [Cumbria Police]<\/p>\n
“If somebody comes to us looking to get a snake, they need to have come in a few times, filled out a care sheet, and have had to spend quite a bit of time thinking about it,” Christopher added.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, not everywhere is like that so you can walk in and walk out with the snake in the same day.”<\/p>\n
She said that some people buy the reptiles from “pre-loved websites or their mates advertise a snake for sale”.<\/p>\n
“Again they’ve not really done the research and looked into how big it’s going to get, how much care it needs, that type of thing,” she added.<\/p>\n
Follow BBC Cumbria on X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Nextdoor<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> and listen to Radio Cumbria on BBC Sounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n More like thisRelated internet links