Firemen for python

Paris, Nov. 1 (Reuters): A dozen firefighters were called in to cut their way to a 10-foot-long python hiding in a shop just outside Paris on Sunday.

“We were alerted by someone who said he had seen a snake on the roof of a shop,” a fire brigade spokesman said. “We don’t know where it escaped from. Probably from an apartment,” he said.

The firefighters cut a hole in the false ceiling of the shop in Gentilly, south of Paris, to retrieve the snake.

Police have taken charge of the reptile.

Tsunami alert

Los Angeles (Reuters): An exclusive California beach enclave has raised eyebrows by passing out tsunami safety brochures that warn residents, in capital letters, that they should never try to surf one.

The pamphlets, part of an emergency preparedness campaign, inform residents of Malibu that tsunamis often follow large earthquakes and advise: “NEVER GO TO THE BEACH TO WATCH FOR, OR...”

“I’m speechless,” Malibu surfer Candace Brown said.“I think the last thing people will think about when they feel an earthquake is surfing.”

Nose-biting seal

Johannesberg (Reuters): A seal bit off a South African woman’s nose after she tried to help it back into the sea.

Elsie van Tonder, 49, is expected to undergo surgery after being bitten on a beach near George. Her nose was found but could not be reattached to her face.

“The seal had been lying in the same spot since Friday, so the lady and a few other people were trying to take it back to the water,” said Herman Oosthuizen, a marine biologist with the department of environmental affairs.