A man in HCM City has just handed over an Indian python to local forest rangers.
The animal was handed over to the authorities on December 27 by Nguyen Thu Tran, 44, from District 7.
Tran said that he was given the animal by a friend seven years ago when it was seven kilos. He raised it in a cage.
"Now I want it to have a better life," Tran said. "So I decided to give it to the forest rangers who I hope will take better care of it and then release it back into the wild."
A staff member from the forest protection department of HCM City said that the female python is from the rare and critically endangered Python bivittatus species named in the Vietnamese Red Book of at-risk wildlife.
The python has been taken to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station where it will be monitored before being released back into the wild.