A python named "Zion" who escaped from the Hamat Gader park in the Golan Heights was found Monday by soldiers patrolling Israel's border with Jordan. Zion had been missing for almost six months.
The snake lost a third of its weight and was thought to be dead, because it was not moving. The paralysis was due to the cold weather, however, and aside from an injury to the python's jaw, Zion is recovering.
The 10,000 shekel reward that owners of Hamat Gader had offered for finding the python will be given to the soldiers who discovered it.
In the Galilee, a joint mission by the Nature Reserves Authority and the Akko police has netted ten rare birds, all protected species that were illegally trapped and stolen. Three searches were carried out at the homes of poaching suspects.
Charges are being brought against all three suspects, Arab males from the village of Kafr Yassif.
Click here to learn more about rare birds native to the Land of Israel.