Recycling shop shocker as snakey donation slithers in 

Recycling shop workers in the Netherlands were left in shock when a python was found amongst its donations.

The snake was discovered in the sorting centre of the recycling shop, Opnieuw & Co.

The staff at the centre stumbled upon the creature while sorting through clothing donations.

“At first we thought it was a toy snake as it was not that big”, said Marcel van Gogh, the director of Opnieuw & Co, “but that was not the case.”

Twenty per cent of the clothing that goes to the sorting centre is handed directly to the stores, while the remaining eighty per cent is collected from bags in clothing containers on the streets.

“We wondered if the snake was probably seeking a warm place, found a bag of clothes, and ended up here,” a staff member told RTV Dordrecht/Rijnmond.

Upon its discovery at the sorting centre y, the animal ambulance service was called and the snake was safely transported to the Louterbloemen Animal Care Centre.

On Thursday, the snake’s owner arrived to reclaim the pet and generously donated €100 to the charity.

Fortunately, the furore caught the attention of the snake’s owner who confirmed: “The snake had been missing since Friday, his name is Antonio. It’s a silly story.”

“Every time we take the snake out of the terrarium and put it back, we close the door. But this time my child had forgotten to do that. When we saw he was no longer in the terrarium, we immediately started looking everywhere at home. But by then, it was too late. I looked everywhere, but we couldn’t find him anywhere.”

She recounted that she was gathering items for the recycling shop and transported bags and boxes to the container the following day. “But I hadn’t looked in them,” she added.

“He’s only seven months old. He’s only a child.”

“The recent adventure has left him very stressed,” she said.  “I will get him a fresh mouse and then he’ll be okay again.”

Opnieuw & Co is a non-profit recycling organisation. This means that we do not have a profit objective, but they work professionally and financially profitably to achieve social objectives.