Sri Lankan beauty pageant contestant fined for dancing with protected python

A Sri Lankan court fined a 19-year-old beauty pageant contestant and a snake handler after a video showing her dancing with a protected python went viral on social media, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court fined contestant Methmi Hiranya 50,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($166) for possessing and using a protected wild animal in a dance performance during a New Year beauty pageant in Colombo.

The man who rented her the 2.1-meter (7-foot) non-venomous python was fined 100,000 rupees ($332) for the illegal possession and commercial exploitation of wildlife.

Both pleaded guilty to charges under the country’s Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance following an investigation by the Department of Wildlife Conservation’s Colombo District Range Forest Office.

Speaking to the media, Range Forest Officer M.D.P. Sanjeewa said the defendants received the maximum penalties allowed under the law.

He added that the python was released unharmed into the wild shortly after the event.

The Department of Wildlife Conservation reiterated that Sri Lankan law strictly prohibits the possession, transportation, exhibition, sale or rental of protected wildlife species, warning that legal action would continue against violators.