Woman comes face-to-face with snake in Australia supermarket

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Helaina Alati was browsing the spice aisle of an Australian supermarket when she came face-to-face with a huge snake. The head of the 3-meter-long (10-foot-long) non-venomous diamond python emerged through a space in a shelf above the spice jars in the Sydney store. The trained snake catcher says she returned to the supermarket with a bag, caught the snake and released it into nearby woodland. Supermarket chain Woolworths confirmed in a statement that a “slippery and rare customer was spotted in the spice aisle” on Monday morning at its store in the suburb of  Glenorie on Sydney’s northwest outskirts.