Tooele Animal Control Searching For Missing 8-Foot-Long Boa Constrictor

TOOELE, Utah — Authorities said they are still searching for an 8-foot-long boa constrictor that was accidentally freed from its container on Friday.

Ask any hiker who wasn’t so sure about the trail ahead — the nearby brush hiding what might be there, or about that stick that didn’t quite look like a stick at first — it’s always on their minds.

“I’m not afraid of snakes, but I don’t know that I want to mess around with an 8-foot snake, either,” said Lt. Jeremy Hansen with the Tooele Police Department.

Eight foot snakes aren’t common in Tooele, but there’s one out there somewhere.

“This is probably a first in my career of 15 years here,” said Hansen.

You know when you're hiking and sticks can scare you because they look like a snake for a split second? Well, in Tooele, that stick might be a missing 8-foot boa constrictor. @KSL5TV at 5 and 6. #ksltv #noperope pic.twitter.com/RhOVxMx6YJ

— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) July 6, 2021

Hansen has plenty of experience searching for bad guys, but never before has he been on the lookout for a boa constrictor.

“It’s very unique,” he said. “It’s not something, you know, the public has some concern because of how big it is.”

On Friday, the nope rope got out of its cage at a home off Antelope Avenue when contractors removing old windows to install new ones tipped the cage over.

The owner had moved all of his snakes in their cages outside so the contractors wouldn’t tip them over, and of course, the cage with the boa was the one.

“And it has not been seen since. We haven’t had any sightings of it,” said Hansen. “The owner is hoping that it somehow made its way back into the house because the windows were off, but he hasn’t found it inside either, so we have no idea where the snake is at.”

On Tooele’s 411 Facebook page, people were saying what you would expect, like, “I will cry if I come across this” and “Well, Tooele, it was nice knowing ya, time to call in the Air Force.”

If it helps, though, police said the owner told them it’s a friendly snake. But officers urged the public to exercise caution.

“If people see it, we don’t want them to approach it, just call dispatch (at 435-882-5600). We’ll have our animal control officers come out there, we’ll call the owner up there, we just don’t want to take any chances for the public,” said Hansen.