Israeli child takes 11-foot pet python ‘Belle’ for swimming

Jerusalem: The 11-foot yellow serpent, named Belle, is a best friend of An eight-year-old Israeli girl Inbar Regev. She loves to cool off in her small backyard pool with her favourite swimming buddy – her pet python.

The 11-foot python is one of her family’s many pets, living happily together in an animal sanctuary in an agricultural community in southern Israel.

Inbar Regev and python’s friendship

Inbar Regev, who has had the snake since she was young, has named the python Belle, after the lead character from the Disney film Beauty and the Beast.

Inbar says that the python has been giving her company as schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It helps me pass the time because I really like to hang out with snakes and sometimes I help snakes shed (their skin) and I help them to be happy during coronavirus,” Inbar Regev said speaking to the media.

Sarit Regev, Inbar’s mother, said the two the littel girl and Belle, the python are best friends and they grew up together.

“Inbar was raised with all these animals and she was raised with the snakes. When Inbar was little she swam inside the bath with the snake and now she has grown up and the snake got bigger, so they swim together in the pool. It’s very natural for us,” she said.

Speaking about the criticism that she faces for keeping a pet python, Sarit said, “There are people that say – ‘you are crazy, how can you do it, you don’t love your kids’”.

“It’s a lovely life to live like this. When a kid grows up with animals he becomes a person that loves other people, he becomes a person that cares about others and not about himself,” she said.

Take a look at how netizens reacted to the viral video of Inbar Regev hanging out with pet python, which was earlier shared by Reuters on Twitter.