Python on the prom! Storm ‘washes snake down hillside’ into Quarry Bay park

A huge Burmese python caused a commotion yesterday afternoon at the Quarry Bay Promenade, attracting onlookers and biting the snake catcher that had come to subdue it.

The snake, which appeared to be several metres long, was perched on a ledge along the seaside walkway in the Promenade's pet garden and first seen around noon.

North Point police and fire department officials were notified and cordoned the area off “like a crime scene,” said Angie Scott, an animal rights activist who had been walking her dogs nearby.

“They were telling everyone to stay back and keep away because there was a giant snake there,” Scott said. “[The python] was on the other side of the high railing [surrounding the park], and if you looked over the railing and on the ledge the snake was sitting there sunning itself... How could it have ended up in Quarry Bay?”

A local snake catcher shortly arrived and was secured by a fire department harness as he leaned across the walkway ledge and attempted to place the python in a canvas bag.

According to Scott, the snake catcher temporarily lost control of the python, which coiled around his head and lower body and bit the man’s calf.

“There was blood all over the back of his left leg,” Scott said. “The bag wasn’t big enough to hold the snake… He had to call for the firemen to get him a bigger bag, and then he brought the snake onto land and was finally able to [secure] it there.”