Author: Frances Mao BBC News, Sydney

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When an Australian woman poked out a python from the supermarket shelf to greet her, one of her grocery store runs turned into a snake rescue.

On Monday, 25-year-old Helaina Alati slipped out of a 3 million-long non-venomous snake in a store in Sydney.

Woolworths Supermarket is located on the edge of a large jungle in the northwestern suburbs of the city.

But encountering a snake in the spice aisle is not what Ms. Aratti expected.

Fortunately for both parties, Ms. Alati is a wildlife rescuer and is familiar with snakes.

"I just turned my head, he was about 20 centimeters from my face, just looking straight at me," she told the BBC.

She took two shots, but still remained calm. No one else around.

Ms. Aratti recognized it as a diamond python at a glance and knew it was not poisonous because it stuck out its tongue and flicked it.

"He kept looking at me straight, as if saying:'Can you take me out?'" she said.

After filming the snake, Ms. Aratti reminded the staff that she could help them get it out.

She took a snake bag from the house and went back to the store, "knocked him on the tail and he slipped in."

Then she released it from the house in the bushes-this is the natural habitat of species around Sydney.

As a well-trained snake handler, Ms. Alati has previously conducted at least 20 snake rescues.

She said that her friend had previously joked that she was a "snake girl". This was a zoo scene in a Harry Potter movie. The boy wizard found out that he could talk to a snake.

Ms. Aratti said that she would not speak snake tongue like Harry did, but "I have mentioned that scene many times."

"They are a little attracted to me, like they just think I am the kind of person who cares about and protects animals," she said.

"To be honest, this was the most exciting thing that happened during the lockdown. The staff were all taking pictures."

Australia's largest city has been under lockdown since June to combat the delta epidemic. Grocery shopping is one of the few reasons people are allowed to leave their homes.

Ms. Aratti said that she suspected that the snake had been in the store for the night, possibly on the ceiling where the diamond python likes to roost.

She added that it might have been lurking on the shelf all morning because "dozens of people...passed by it and snatched the spices."

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