aA LARGE python was taken into police custody yesterday after attacking its owner during an early morning outing in the park.
The woman, who regularly goes for midnight walks with her 15ft long pet, phoned police in a panic when the snake suddenly turned on her.
Officers sped to her aid after being told the creature was large enough to crush a small child to death.
When it slithered into a garden and refused to budge, they were forced to pick up the 35lb python and bundle it into the back of a van normally reserved for two legged criminals.
The woman attacked by the snake was named as mother-of-three Terri McEntee .She is in her thirties. Yesterday she was unavailable for comment at her home in Muiryfauld Drive, Shettleston, Glasgow.
The incident began in the early hours of Sunday morning when the woman, who lives next to Tolllcross Park, took her pet snake called Fangs for a stroll.
Glasgow Zoo director Richard O'Grady, who was wakened by police at seven o'clock in the morning to take the snake off their hands, explained she regularly took the python for walks with it draped across her shoulders.
But this time the seven-year-old snake gave her the slip, and lunged for her as she tried to catch it.
Mr O'Grady said the snake was exceptionally tame, but had probably grown hungry after being fed on a diet of tiny young chicks.
He said after the woman bought a pet rabbit which she keeps in a hutch in her back garden, Fangs had probably become over excited and eager for something a little more filling.
He said: ''When you consider a fully grown python can grow to become 25 feet long and can eat a small cow in one go, feeding it on small chicks is the equivalent of us trying to survive on Maltesers.
''The woman had probably been handling her rabbit, and the snake could smell it on her. When faced with the opportunity of eating its equivalent of a juicy T-bone steak, it was hardly going to say no.''
A police insider confirmed yesterday the woman had been taking the snake for a walk when the incident happened.
The source said: ''She had had the snake for 18 months and apparently takes it for walks every morning. When it went into a garden, she tried to get it out and it went for her. She then thought enough was enough and called the police.''
Mr O'Grady said that Fangs would now be re-homed with one of the zoo staff and be put into a python breeding project.
