Fluffy, the python thought to be the world's largest captive snake, will call the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium home permanently, thanks to an aborted flight back to its owner, said zoo associate director Pete Fingerhut. Fluffy's Columbus stint was supposed to last from April through Halloween. Zoo director emeritus Jack Hanna had arranged the loan from python breeder Bob Clark in Oklahoma City, who'd raised Fluffy from a hatchling.
The 24-foot-long snake with the watermelon-size girth wowed zoo visitors and helped make last year's 1.53 million attendance the second highest on record, Fingerhut said. The biggest year was 2006, with 1.56 million visitors.
So when Nov. 1 rolled around, zookeepers weren't happy about packing up Fluffy for her flight back to Oklahoma City. Then, they got a reprieve. The cargo company scheduled to ferry the 300-pound reticulated snake had gone out of business, and Clark was having trouble finding a substitute.
Fingerhut said, "A lot of companies hesitate to transport snakes, especially since the movie Snakes on a Plane."
The delay gave zoo officials an opening to negotiate with Clark, who had said in March that he wouldn't part with Fluffy. A $35,000 offer clinched the deal.
The zoo's animals generally come as exchanges from other zoos or through breeding loans or donations, so money doesn't often change hands, Borin said. But the zoo sometimes purchases animals, such as three kangaroos recently bought for a total of $15,000.
Clark is happy with Fluffy's outcome.
"I really love that snake; I think it's a special animal," he said. "It's so big and tame and wonderful. But I have to deal with the realities of life like everyone else. I like to have the money, and I know she's got a great place to live there."
Fluffy is on display in the zoo's Asia Quest area, in an indoor, 25-foot-long enclosure. Seeing her is a bargain through February because zoo admission in January and February is half the normal price.
Clark expects Fluffy to have a long run in Columbus. One python at the Philadelphia Zoo lived to be nearly 50, and Fluffy is just 15. And unlike humans, she won't shrink as she ages (see: Paul Harvey). Reptiles, Clark said, continue to grow throughout their lives.