Maybe the 4-foot-long slithery visitor to a Redbox at the Circle K gas station in Taylorsville just missed his flight and was searching for some of his friends in that famous movie “Snakes on a Plane.”
Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies drove to the rescue Wednesday when they were dispatched by 911 operators at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday about a “giant python” behind the movie rental kiosk there.
Deputy Robert Cooper, who was on duty and went to the scene, said his initial reaction to hearing the “giant python” part on the dispatch radio as he drove to Circle K was, “Not happening, I’m not DNR.”
Cooper was referring to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, which has fish and wildlife and law enforcement divisions, whose general assignment is to deal with issues involving Indiana wildlife, with the emphasis on “wild.”
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The snake, identified by the DNR as a gray ratsnake, a harmless, non-poisonous mouse predator who loves Indiana farm fields and pond areas, was coiled up behind the Redbox, much to the surprise of those who were walking by and spotted it. And to add to the creepy factor, DNR officials say these snakes are very good “climbers.”
After stretching the compliant snake out in the open with the help of one of the non-squeamish onlookers to measure its length, the ratsnake was then taken to the Tannehill Fishing Area nearby to resume doing whatever snakes do when they aren’t exploring movie selections at Redbox.
“It was nothing poisonous — not aggressive at all,” Cooper said of the snake’s transfer back to the wild.
It was Cooper’s first emergency response as a Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputy that involved any sort of snake.
Cooper, who said he grew up in more of a city area, said snakes “are not my thing.”
The U.S. Army retiree joined the sheriff’s department on Sept. 4 after 20 years of military service. He graduated from the 217th class of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy on May 18, one of 141 graduates.
At the academy graduation, he received The Chamberlain Award, named in honor of Joshua Chamberlain, an American college professor in Maine who volunteered to join the Union Army during the Civil War. Chamberlain is best known for his gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg for which he received the Medal of Honor.
In the short time Cooper has been with the department, he has already saved a life in Bartholomew County, with the deputy who was his training officer.
While training with Deputy Andrew Dougan last November, the two deputies were credited with getting to a house fire near Elizabethtown within seven minutes and entering the home to rescue a man from the burning structure before firefighters arrived.
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The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has some advice on its website of what to do if you encounter a snake.
Above all, if you leave a snake alone, it will leave you alone. When a snake bites a person, it does so in self-defense, according to the DNR website.
To learn more, visit in.gov/dnr/fishwild/9385.htm.
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