Python stops traffic in Philippines

QUEZON CITY, Philippines, April 4 (UPI) -- A 7-foot reticulated python stopped traffic in a Manila suburb when it crawled out from under a jeepney, a public transport vehicle.

Inspector Erlito Renigin told the newspaper Tempo that the snake had apparently been riding on the jeepney, wrapping itself around a bar on the underside. Jeepneys are small passenger buses that got their name because the first were converted U.S. Army jeeps after World War II.

Renigin, with help from three traffic officers and a number of passers-by in Quezon City, eventually captured the snake and put it in a bag, taking it to his office.

The snake appeared to be used to being handled, he said, suggesting that it is an escaped pet. Reticulated pythons, which can grow to be more than 30 feet long, are constrictors native to Southeast Asia and the Philippines.

The snake is now in the hands of wildlife control officers who will hand it over to anyone who can prove ownership. If no one claims it, it may be released to the wild.