15-Foot Python Receives Groundbreaking Cancer Treatment in World-First Veterinary Case

A 15-foot reticulated python at Chester Zoo has made an extraordinary recovery after becoming the first snake believed to have received a form of cancer treatment adapted from human medicine.

The 23-year-old python, named Jodie Foster, was diagnosed with a malignant tumour affecting her jaw. After conventional surgery was followed by the return of the cancer, veterinary specialists faced a difficult challenge: finding a way to treat the reptile while preserving her ability to eat and live normally.

Today, Jodie is reportedly back to her energetic personality, eating normally and exploring her enclosure. Her recovery is being described as an important development for veterinary medicine and potentially a valuable example of how treatments used in human healthcare can be adapted for animals.

A serious cancer diagnosis

Jodie Foster weighs around 40kg and measures approximately 15 feet long. Keepers became concerned about her health after noticing that she was eating less than usual.

Veterinary examinations revealed a fibrosarcoma, a malignant tumour that was affecting her jaw. In 2024, surgeons removed the tumour along with part of the affected jawbone.

Initially, the operation appeared to offer hope. However, the cancer later returned, creating a serious threat to Jodie's health.

Because a growing tumour in the jaw can make it increasingly difficult for a snake to eat, the veterinary team was concerned that her condition could eventually become life-threatening.

Rather than giving up, specialists at Chester Zoo worked with cancer experts to investigate whether electrochemotherapy, a treatment already used in human and veterinary medicine, could be adapted for a large snake.

The case presented a number of unusual challenges because of Jodie's enormous size, anatomy and physiology.

What is electrochemotherapy?

Electrochemotherapy combines an anti-cancer medicine with controlled electrical pulses.

In Jodie's treatment, the drug bleomycin was used alongside carefully delivered electrical stimulation at the tumour site. The electrical pulses temporarily make the membranes of cancer cells more permeable, allowing the medicine to enter the cells more effectively.

One potential advantage of this approach is that it can help deliver the drug directly where it is needed, potentially allowing lower quantities of the medication to be used.

For Jodie, the treatment was carried out after the veterinary team removed the visible tumour and part of the affected jawbone. Electrochemotherapy was then used to target cancer cells that might have remained in the area.

The procedure was a significant undertaking. Jodie had to be safely anaesthetised and transported from her enclosure to the zoo's veterinary facilities.

Because she is so large, the veterinary team joined two operating tables together, creating a surface roughly equivalent to a double bed.

Keeping a reptile at the correct temperature during surgery was another important consideration. Unlike mammals, snakes depend heavily on their environment to regulate body temperature. During the operation, heated blankets and warmed air were used to help maintain stable conditions.

The surgery lasted around 90 minutes, and veterinary staff reported that Jodie recovered remarkably quickly.

A promising recovery

The biggest sign of success has been Jodie's return to normal behaviour.

Following her treatment, her appetite recovered and she began eating normally again. Footage released by the zoo showed the python consuming a whole chicken, providing a striking indication that her ability to feed had not been seriously affected by the operation.

Snakes such as reticulated pythons have highly flexible jaws that allow them to swallow prey much larger than their heads. Despite the removal of part of her jawbone, Jodie's ability to feed has remained intact.

A follow-up examination conducted this week reportedly found no evidence that the cancer had returned.

For the veterinary team, the change has been particularly encouraging because there had previously been genuine uncertainty about whether Jodie would survive.

Her return to normal activity is therefore more than a positive outcome for one animal. It also highlights the possibilities that can emerge when veterinary specialists collaborate with researchers and clinicians from other areas of medicine.

Why the case matters for veterinary medicine

Cancer affects many species, including domestic animals, wildlife and zoo residents. Treating cancer in exotic animals can be especially challenging because veterinarians have less established evidence and fewer treatment protocols available than they do for dogs, cats and humans.

Jodie's case could help expand understanding of how advanced cancer treatments might be used in reptiles.

Researchers involved in the procedure are expected to formally publish details of the treatment so that veterinary professionals elsewhere can study the approach.

That information could prove useful for specialists caring for other reptiles that develop similar tumours.

The case also demonstrates the growing importance of translational research, where knowledge and techniques from one field of medicine can potentially be adapted for another.

However, experts are likely to treat the result as an encouraging individual case rather than evidence that the same treatment will automatically work for every reptile with cancer. More research and documented cases will be needed to determine how widely the approach can be used.

From a worrying diagnosis to a remarkable comeback

Jodie was named after actress Jodie Foster when she arrived at Chester Zoo around two decades ago. Staff also noticed that the initials on her paperwork corresponded with her being a juvenile female at the time.

Now, more than 20 years later, the python has become the subject of an unusual veterinary milestone.

Her story is a reminder of how difficult caring for ageing zoo animals can be. It also shows how veterinary teams increasingly have access to sophisticated techniques that were once associated primarily with human hospitals.

For Chester Zoo's veterinary staff, seeing Jodie return to her normal behaviour has reportedly been one of the most rewarding aspects of the case.

The python is now eating, exploring her surroundings and behaving much as she did before her illness.

What comes next?

The publication of detailed information about Jodie's treatment could be one of the most important next steps. Sharing the procedure, clinical observations and outcome with the wider veterinary community could help determine whether electrochemotherapy has broader applications in reptile medicine.

For now, Jodie's recovery is a remarkable example of innovation in animal healthcare.

A cancer diagnosis that once threatened the life of a 15-foot python has been followed by an unusual treatment, careful veterinary collaboration and an encouraging outcome.

While further research is needed before conclusions can be drawn about the treatment's wider effectiveness, Jodie's case could represent an important step forward in understanding how modern cancer therapies can be adapted for animals.

Most importantly, the 23-year-old python appears to have regained the appetite and lively personality that her keepers know so well. After facing a serious tumour and an uncertain future, Jodie Foster is once again doing what a healthy python does best: eating, exploring and getting on with life.

Source: The Independent, August 21, 2026