Helaina Alati, a wildlife rescuer, was welcomed by a snake at Sydney store on Monday. She saw 3m non-venomous snake slithering out of spice shelves when she was at the supermarket to buy groceries.

According to BBC, the Woolworths supermarket lies on the edge of a large expanse of bushland on the city’s north- west outskirts.

Alati told BBC that she turned her head and saw the python, which was about 20cm from her face. She did a double-take but remained calm. No one else was around.

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Being a rescuer, she instantly recognised it as a diamond python and knew it wasn’t venomous as it protruded and flicked its tongue.

After filming the snake, she alerted staff and said she could help them get it out. She got her snake bag and returned to the store, “tapped him on the tail and he just slithered in”.

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She then released it away from houses in bushland – a natural habitat for the species around Sydney.

Alati has so far rescued 20 snakes and is a trained snake handler.

Her friends usually joke about her being “the snake girl” and referred  the incident a zoo scene in a Harry Potter film.

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She said it was the most exciting thing that’s happened in a little while given lockdown.

Australia’s largest city has been in a lockdown since June to fight a Delta outbreak. Grocery shopping is one of the few reasons people are allowed to leave their homes.

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Alati said she suspected the snake had been in the shop overnight, probably initially in the ceiling where diamond pythons like to nestle.

It had probably lurked on the shelf all morning as “dozens of people… passed it and grabbed spices”, she added.