SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – With 20 years of experience, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Scott Mullin thought he had seen it all. That is, until he got a call Sunday morning about a snake and arrived to find a baby ball python with its mouth sewn shut.
“I’m a fireman, I don’t discount anything because I’ve seen it all, but this I hadn’t seen yet,” Mullin said.
The juvenile snake, about 13 or 14 inches long, had string stitched through its mouth, clenching its jaw and making it impossible to eat. The dirt surrounding the stitches indicated that the snake could have been in this condition for sometime, but there's no telling how long.
Neighbors in the Southwest Miami-Dade neighborhood where the snake was found had no idea where it came from or how long it had been in the area.
Mullin, a member of Miami-Dade County’s Venom One unit, said ball pythons are a non-native species sold as pets because of their docile nature. Rather than strike, the breed's characteristic defense mechanism is to curl up in a ball, hence the name.
Knowing how gentle these snakes can be, Mullin was perplexed as to why someone would harm such a resigned reptile. He took to Facebook hoping to find an answer.
“If I tried to describe it to you, you’d never believe it,” Mullin said, explaining why he took the pictures, which have since been shared thousands of time.
Commenters expressed their sympathy for the snake, but some also suggested something sinister could be to blame for the animal's affliction: Vodou.
The Miami Herald reported that Vodou practitioners will write the name of a person they want to curse on a piece of paper then put it in a snake's mouth and sew it shut. The owner of a South Florida botanica and pet shop told the newspaper it's "very dark witchcraft."
“It’s not a Christmas story. This is more of a Halloween story,” Mullin said.
The firefighter said when he and a friend removed the snake's snitches, they didn't find any paper in its mouth, but there's a chance saliva could have dissolved it.
That friend who removed the stitches agreed to adopt the python and has agreed to pay the veterinarian bills to have it treated for a fungal infection called mouth rot.
Many are hoping the snake will slither on to see better days.
“It’s not out of the woods, but hopefully, it will make a full recovery,” Mullin said.