Hundreds of snakes discovered inside foul-smelling Santa Ana home

Police serving a search warrant at a home in Santa Ana on Wednesday discovered as many as 400 snakes inside.

Officers served the search warrant at the home in the 2900 block of Fernwood Drive after the Police Department’s animal services section received complaints from neighbors about a foul odor coming from the home.

Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said about 300 to 400 pythons were discovered inside. Some of the pythons were alive, some dead and decaying.

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He said he was standing 200 to 300 feet away as officers were executing the search warrant and could smell the stench.

Animal control officers began building a criminal case against the man about a month ago and served a search warrant as part of the case, Bertagna added.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, was taken into custody on suspicion of various felonies, including animal cruelty charges.

One neighbor told KTLA that a foul smell had been noticeable for weeks. He said that while he’s not scared of snakes, he acknowledged that the thought of there being so many was “kind of terrifying, I’m not going to lie.�

The man is a teacher at an elementary school in Newport Beach, KTLA reported.

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