Snake falls from ceiling at Tacoma General Hospital
A man who came to Tacoma General Hospital in late March lost his snake, and didn’t know whether he lost it there, in his car or between his car and his home.
A month later, the white ball python made a dramatic reappearance, dropping through the ceiling over a work station with staff members nearby April 30.
“When the visitor called us to say that he had lost his snake, he wasn’t sure if it was in the hospital,” hospital spokeswoman Marce Edwards said Wednesday.
“We brought in a snake-sniffing dog to check his car but they didn’t find anything — obviously, because we now know where the snake was.”
When the snake was found, hospital security collected it and notified the owner, who picked it up.
“I think he was happy to get his snake back and we were happy to reunite it with its owner,” Edwards said.
Despite the python’s unobtrusive month in residence, the hospital has no plans to use snakes as vector control in the future.
“I think we would prefer the snakes stay out of the hospital,” Edwards said.
Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker
This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Snake falls from ceiling at Tacoma General Hospital."