The Windsor-Essex County Human Society is used to rescuing strays, but they had an unusual rescue this past weekend.

A domestic python was found at the Waste Disposal Centre.

“Normally when we get calls about snakes on a sidewalk or in someone's backyard it's a wild snake that should be there,” says executive director Melanie Coulter. “Our advice is to leave them alone but occasionally it is a domestic snake like this one.”

The human society says people sometimes abandon pet snakes when they get to be too much work, but they will succumb to the elements as soon as cool weather arrives.

The python has been sent to a reptile expert for care and rehoming.