SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A beloved ball python named Darwin has gone missing from the Ocean Beach library, where he was part of a special program encouraging children to read.
Camille Hyatt, the youth services librarian who owns Darwin, believes someone stole the 4-foot-long snake from his locked tank while she was on her lunch break Wednesday.
"To steal something is one thing, but a pet isn't a thing. It's an emotional attachment, a friend, a creature, a living thing, it's very different," Hyatt said.
For the past two years, Darwin has been a fixture at the library as part of the "Read to a Reptile" program, where children read books to him and a bearded dragon that also lives at the facility.
"He's like the perfect library snake, he'll go into a bookshelf, curl up in the books, it's like he's reading, he loves the books," Hyatt said.
According to Hyatt, Darwin is almost always in his tank, which sits right next to her desk. The tank is kept locked at all times, with the key placed on top.
When Hyatt returned from her lunch break around 1 p.m. Wednesday, she discovered Darwin was missing.
"It's very hard to know people would do something like that," Hyatt said.
The tank door was still locked when she returned, leading Hyatt to believe someone unlocked it, took Darwin, and then locked it again.
"At first I thought maybe he got out, I checked all four corners of the enclosure, but there's no holes, there's no way he'd gotten out," Hyatt said.
Hyatt is offering a $200 reward for Darwin's safe return.
"I won't have any questions asked or hard feelings, I just want him back," Hyatt said.
Anyone with information about Darwin's whereabouts is asked to contact the Ocean Beach library or call Camille at 619-431-2823
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
