A 10ft snake had to be rescued from a Banchory art gallery after it managed to get into a vent and into the building.
Bodhi, a five-year-old female reticulated python, lives at a flat above Studio 1 in the Aberdeenshire town’s Scott Skinner Square.
Discussing what happened, the gallery and shop’s manager Viv Kerridge, 40, said: “She managed to get into a vent and fell through our bathroom roof.”
The snake’s owner Martin Wolski discovered his pet was missing and thought it may be downstairs in Studio 1, which is closed on a Monday.
Mrs Kerridge explained: “After a frantic morning trying to find where she had managed to get to, he found her in our shop.
“Peeking through the window, he could see a lot of the merchandise was on the floor and he knew that we weren’t usually that messy, so he was pretty certain that she was in the shop.”
Bodhi knocked down a number of things from the shop’s displays, including handbags, and Mrs Kerridge said she got a message from her boss explaining the situation.
“She and I rushed down to get the shop open so that Martin could go in and rescue her safely.
“We figured the best thing to do was let Martin in with his snake handling tools and let him pick her up.”
The python was there and Mr Wolski managed to rescue his beloved pet and has now blocked the vent in his Banchory flat so there is no repeat incident.
According to the shop manager, the two-hour ordeal turned out to be a “positive story”.
She added: “Nothing irreplaceable had been broken, nobody was hurt and we’re glad the beautiful snake managed to get back to her home.”
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