(Source) A worker picking up trash near the Waukegan lakefront stumbled across a potentially dangerous full-grown Burmese python Monday morning, but fortunately the animal was sluggish and easily captured. The man was doing cleanup work outside an industrial building about 100 yards from the Lake Michigan shoreline when he spotted the albino snake, said Waukegan police Lt. Ed Fitzgerald. “He was shocked and surprised when he came across it,” Fitzgerald said. “He was picking up trash out of the bushes and the next thing he knows he runs into a 12-to 15-foot python.” The coldblooded animal was not aggressive when the man found it near Waukegan Harbor about 10 a.m., but it took three Waukegan Animal Control employees to lift the animal into a van. Rob Carmichael, curator of the Lake Forest Wildlife Discovery Center, said the animal is lucky to have been discovered before this week’s expected cold front sets in, or else it would have likely died.
The snake was injured and sick. “The animal has some serious health issues right now,” Carmichael said. “It was definitely not given very good care. We don’t know how long it was out in the wild.” The general rule when dealing with snakes is that one adult handler is needed for every six feet of snake, according to Carmichael. He said the snake could have been a danger to a child or even an adult who was alone. “It’s certainly a little concerning seeing as it was caught down by the lakefront in Waukegan,” Carmichael said. “This is a large enough animal to do some real serious harm whether it’s pets or even small children.”
You know one of the reasons why I live in Chicago? Because nature doesn’t fuck with me. Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Forest Fires, Tsunami’s, Wild Bears, Killer Bees, Snakes, Sharks, all of that shit stays far away from the Midwest. Yeah we have terrible winters but at least I don’t have to sit around wondering if this will be the summer my apartment burns down because someone forgot to put out their campfire. Or if this will be the fall that a hurricane hits and the entire city becomes Water World. Its comforting. I interact with nature when I go to Castaways on North Ave and when I golf in the Suburbs. That’s it. Nature is on my terms. Mother Earth plays by my rules. But this. This is too close to home. Waukegan better figure this shit out and figure it out fast because if I know snakes I know that one leads to two and two leads to a billion. Next thing you know we’ll be swimming in pythons and then I’ll just have to kill myself.
PS - “The snake was injured and sick”
Seriously guys? We’re going to save a 15 foot python?
waukeegan is one of the biggest shitholes in all of chicagoland. wouldn't go there unless i was carryin