LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – A woman discovered a 20-foot python in the dumpster at her apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday.
Teresa Sanchez had just pulled into the garage at The Piero Apartments after work when she spotted the snake lying on top of a large dumpster.
She initially thought it was a toy, so she walked over to investigate. The snake appeared very realistic, so she suspected it was taxidermied until it suddenly moved.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Sanchez told Nexstar’s KTLA. “I was like, ‘Am I in Florida? What’s going on here?’”
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A 20-foot python that appeared to be sick, was abandoned in a dumpster inside the parking garage of an apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 5, 2025. (Teresa Sanchez) -
A man with a local reptile resue group arrived quickly to help safely remove the snake in downtown L.A. on Aug. 5, 2025. (Teresa Sanchez) -
A man with a local reptile resue group arrived quickly to help safely remove the snake in downtown L.A. on Aug. 5, 2025. (Teresa Sanchez) -
The plastic container the python was believed to have been placed in before it was abandoned in the dumpster. (Teresa Sanchez) -
A 20-foot python that appeared to be sick, was abandoned in a dumpster inside the parking garage of an apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 5, 2025. (Teresa Sanchez) -
A man with a local reptile resue group arrived quickly to help safely remove the snake in downtown L.A. on Aug. 5, 2025. (Teresa Sanchez) -
The Piero Apartments in downtown Los Angeles. (KTLA)
Concerned for all the pets and small children who lived in her building, she tried calling for help.
“The first thing I called was animal control, but they didn’t pick up, so I called the police and they just said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t help you. These are not the usual things we provide support with.’”
Another bystander who saw the snake was also concerned and said the reptile’s health appeared to be very poor.
“It was sick,” she said. “Its mouth was swollen and it couldn’t open its mouth.”
She managed to contact Joseph Hart from SoCal Reptile Hunter to help safely remove the sick animal, which appeared to have been dumped inside a large plastic container before it was thrown into the trash can.
The bystander said she had called several animal control groups that mentioned plans to euthanize the snake, so she continued calling around until she found someone who was willing to rehabilitate the reptile.
“I wanted to find someone who was more compassionate about animals so that they could hopefully take it, rescue it and nurse it back to health,” she said.
After the snake was safely removed, Sanchez was left with many questions, including who would abandon the python, especially in that state, in the first place.
It’s unclear whether the snake belonged to a resident in the apartment complex.
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