A court has sentenced a man to prison for keeping more than 300 pythons in a flat. Police discovered the illegal operation while investigating unusual electricity consumption. The case took place in eastern China.

China's state broadcaster CCTV described the case in late June as a "serious harmful crime" against rare and endangered wildlife. Under Chinese law the python is listed as a grade-two protected animal, and buying, selling, breeding or transporting such snakes without government permission is banned.

The case began in March 2024, when an elderly man saw a large snake at the foot of a hill in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, and reported it to the authorities, prompting an investigation.

Police believed the snake had escaped from a farm or private collection, because such snakes are not naturally found in the area and snakes are not usually very active in the wild in March.

Investigators sought help from a professional snake keeper, who explained that pythons need a constant temperature of 20 to 30 degrees Celsius and a humid environment to survive, so anyone keeping them would have unusually high electricity costs.

Police then checked the electricity use of nearby residents and identified a man named Guo as a suspect. Guo, unmarried and unemployed, lived alone in the flat.

Investigators also learned that another man, Di, visited Guo's home regularly and often collected parcels of white mice bought online. Sellers told police such mice are usually used as food for reptiles.

Guo also regularly posted pictures of snakes on social media and sometimes hinted at selling pythons. Investigators found a transaction in which Di had sold two pythons for 1,000 yuan (about 150 US dollars). On the basis of this information, police decided to arrest Guo and Di.

Police were stunned when they raided Guo's flat. Numerous plastic boxes were stacked in rows, each holding a python. Guo kept furniture in one bedroom and used the other two bedrooms and the living room entirely for keeping snakes.

In total 309 pythons were recovered in the raid, and they have since been moved to a local zoo.

Police said legal action has been taken against the two accused for illegally keeping and selling protected animals.

The report drew on the South China Morning Post.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.