EVERY LITTLE HELPS WITH PYTHON DELIVERY
- Five keepers, four hot water bottles and a Tesco Value duvet were all involved in bringing Folly Farm's latest exhibit to the popular family attraction near Tenby.
- Photo Caption: It takes three keepers to lift Maya, the 15ft Burmese Python (L-R, Zoo Manager Tim Morphew and zoo keepers Stephanie Marvier and Caroline Gregory)
21 March 2011, Folly Farm, Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire: Five keepers, four hot water bottles and a Tesco Value duvet were all involved in bringing Folly Farm's latest exhibit to the popular family attraction near Tenby. Maya, a 22 year old, 15ft Burmese Python arrived wrapped in a duvet last week as one of the major exhibits in Folly Interactive, an educational based sensory exhibit which will open to the public in a couple of weeks. Maya was previously at Chessington World of Adventures and will join Casper an albino Burmese Python in a purpose-built enclosure with its own pool!
Tim Morphew, Zoo Manager at Folly Farm, proudly showed off Maya with the assistance of zoo keepers Stephanie Marvier and Caroline Gregory; "We thought Casper, our albino python was big, and then we met Maya! It suddenly didn't seem like overkill that I'd taken four other zoo keepers to collect her but the blanket we'd taken to wrap her up in for the journey back to Pembrokeshire did seem a little inadequate. Thankfully there was a supermarket nearby and we were able to purchase a king size duvet and four hot water bottles. I'm not sure if Tesco have thought of marketing their duvets as suitable for reptile transportation but it worked as she is now safely in her new home!"
Tim is keen to highlight the size of the Burmese Python as a warning to people who think they will make suitable pets. Maya was taken in by Chessington when her owner could no longer cope with looking after her but zoos are not always in a position to help out and in the Everglades in Florida the illegal release of pet snakes into the wild has become a real problem.
He warned; "Please think very carefully before making a commitment to a pet of this size, they may seem manageable when they are babies but they can grow up to ten foot in just one year."
-Ends-
For press enquiries please contact:
Zoë Wright
PR and Marketing Manager
01834 815032
zoe@folly-farm.co.uk
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