Goodwill employees in Fort Worth, Tex. received a slimy surprise while sorting through donation items during a seemingly typical work day. Employee Tassy Rodgers was going through articles of clothing in a collection bin when she noticed a giant, albino python clinging to the side of the container. She immediately called out for assistant manager James Murphy to come look at the situation.
Luckily, Murphy is no stranger to reptilian species, having owned a number of pet snakes himself. He knew the most important thing was to get the python to relax as much as possible in order to coax him off the bin.
“They’re very strong and they are constrictors," Murphy said. “So if he didn’t want to let go of that bin, it would have been hard to get him off without hurting him. We tried to coax him to start slithering, to relax his muscles and that’s when I started holding him.”
The snake, whose name turns out to be Toki, had quite the adventure after he was initially dropped off at a donation center and later transported to the sorting center in Fort Worth.
“I don’t know if someone may have [dropped it off] maliciously. Maybe they wanted to get rid of it and weren’t quite sure how, or maybe [the snake] just wanted to get warm. It was in a pile of clothing,” Murphy said.
It turns out that the snake had been missing for five months and wasn't discovered until now.
Owner Austin Pear thought he had left Toki in his aquarium before he left for vacation in May. But when he came back, Toki was missing. Unfortunately, the aquarium’s makeshift lid wasn’t enough to secure the animal. The snake ended up hiding in a couch that Pear donated to Goodwill prior to moving.
“We came back from vacation and I couldn’t find Toki,” Pear said. “We looked everywhere...we checked all the couches...or so we thought...all the clothing. We tore apart every single room and nothing. Just, snake is gone.”
Luckily, the story got plenty of media attention, allowing friends to alert Pear that the Fort Worth Goodwill had finally found Toki. The two were reunited after a long time apart and hopefully, this time for good.