days out

‘World-first’ cancer treatment saves python after tumour destroys

part of her jaw

Reticulated python believed to be the first snake treated with pioneering human cancer therapy

Chester Zoo vets and University of Liverpool specialists team up to save 15-foot snake named after Hollywood star Jodie Foster

Innovative treatment combining surgery and electrochemotherapy hailed a success

Snake is now ‘bright and feisty’ and back in her habitat after last check confirmed she is still cancer free

A 15-foot python named after Hollywood star Jodie Foster has made a full recovery after becoming what is believed to be the first snake in the world to receive a pioneering cancer treatment usually used in humans.

The 50kg reticulated python, who lives at Chester Zoo, underwent electrochemotherapy after a cancerous tumour returned following surgery and began invading her jawbone.

Working alongside cancer specialists at the University of Liverpool, the zoo’s veterinary team adapted the treatment for use in a snake for the first time. Months after the procedure, Jodie is cancer-free, eating normally and back to her usual "bright and feisty" self.

Keepers first became concerned when Jodie began eating less and spending more time inactive in her habitat. Tests confirmed she had a fibrosarcoma - a malignant tumour - in her jaw. Although vets initially removed the tumour, it later returned.

Ian Ashpole, Veterinary Officer at Chester Zoo, said:

“When the tumour came back and started destroying part of her jawbone, we knew more surgery on its own probably wasn't going to be enough. We were facing the possibility of losing her as the tumour made it more and more difficult for her to eat, so we worked with cancer specialists to see whether we could adapt electrochemotherapy for a snake. As far as we're aware, this is the first time it's ever been used in one."

With no operating table built for a python of Jodie's size, keepers and vets improvised. She was anaesthetised in her own habitat before being carefully carried to the zoo’s veterinary centre.

Dr Ashpole said:

“She is so big we had to put two operating tables together, effectively making one the size of a double bed. We used heated blankets and warmed air to keep her body temperature stable throughout the operation. After 90 minutes of surgery, she recovered remarkably quickly.”

Dr Ashpole first removed the tumorous mass and performed a hemi-mandibulectomy, removing part of Jodie’s diseased jawbone, before electrochemotherapy was administered to target any remaining cancerous cells.

The treatment combines the cancer drug bleomycin with a series of carefully controlled electrical pulses delivered directly to the tumour site. The pulses temporarily make cancer cells more permeable, allowing the drug to enter more effectively. This means lower doses of chemotherapy can be used, often in a single procedure.

Jose Alvarez Picornell, Department of Small Animal Clinical Science, University of Liverpool said:

"Electrochemotherapy is an emerging treatment, and this was the first time it had been used in a snake The success of this treatment is a testament to the power of collaboration. By working closely with Ian, we were able to develop a plan that not only benefited Jodie Foster but will also contribute to the wider veterinary community.

“We will be formally publishing details of the procedure so that veterinary colleagues around the world can learn from and build upon our approach. This has been a very special career highlight for me, and a fantastic opportunity to expand the work we do within the Department to support high-quality veterinary and translational research.”

Despite losing part of her jawbone, Jodie's appetite and hunting ability have not been affected. Pythons can unhinge their jaws to swallow prey many times the size of their head, and months of observation since surgery have shown Jodie continues to strike, grip and swallow food without difficulty.

A final check this week confirmed she remains free of any signs of the cancer returning.

Dr Ashpole added:

“Seeing her back to her normal bright and feisty self has been incredibly rewarding. A few months ago, we genuinely didn't know whether she'd survive. Now she's eating normally, exploring her habitat and behaving exactly as we'd hope.

“It also shows how much veterinary medicine is advancing. By bringing together zoo vets and cancer specialists, we've been able to use a treatment developed for people to save an animal in a way that's never been done before.

“One day we're treating a tiny frog that weighs just a few grams, the next we're carrying a 15-foot python into theatre. That's what makes this job so interesting and fun.”

Jodie was named by keepers when she first arrived at Chester Zoo after they noticed her paperwork was marked "JF" - shorthand for "juvenile female" - and decided it suited the Oscar-winning actress's name.

The race to save one of the world's most endangered birds has begun
An international action plan to save a bird species on the brink is now being rolled out
Javan green magpies are so rare that scientists
searching across 12 mountains in Java failed to find a single one
Fewer than 250 may now survive in the world
But conservationists, including experts from Chester Zoo, believe this plan brings new hope for the species
Conservationists are rolling out an emergency rescue plan for a bird so rare that survey teams searching across 12 mountains in Java failed to find a single one.

Chester Zoo has played a central role in developing the plan for the Javan green magpie - a species so close to extinction that fewer than 250 may remain on the planet - and is now working with partners to put it into action.

The plan brings together government, conservation organisations, specialist groups from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and zoos from Indonesia and across the world in a coordinated attempt to pull the species back from the brink.

Bird specialists from Chester Zoo were among 48 international experts who travelled to Indonesia to help shape it, setting out urgent actions to tackle bird trapping, habitat loss and illegal online trade, while strengthening a conservation breeding programme the zoo helped establish over a decade ago.

Online trade of the species, despite it being legally protected in Indonesia, continues covertly through WhatsApp and Facebook. Chester Zoo currently cares for 12 of the approximately 130 Javan green magpies within the entire global conservation breeding population - birds whose survival in human care may now represent the species' last line of defence.

With the plan now being implemented, Chester Zoo's partners at the Cikananga Wildlife Centre in West Java are working with the Indonesian government to strengthen official backing, while conservationists are already preparing the ground for future reintroductions.

Corinne Bailey, Regional Field Programme Senior Manager for South East Asia at Chester Zoo, said:

“We are now planning the final details of conservation translocations, drawing on conservation breeding of the Javan green magpie, as well as preparing in situ community and poacher engagement to reduce the threat posed by the illegal wild songbird trade.”

The zoo's involvement with the species stretches back to 2012, when it helped establish the first conservation breeding programme at the Cikananga Wildlife Centre, providing funding for new aviaries and expertise in husbandry. In 2015, six pairs were transferred to Chester to establish a further insurance population in Europe.

Andrew Owen, Chester Zoo's Head of Birds, who has led the zoo's involvement with the species since its earliest days and co-authored the plan, said:

“This is a bird that most people have never heard of, and that's part of the problem. The Javan green magpie is running out of time - and running out of places to hide. When survey teams searched across mountain after mountain in Java and found nothing, it brought home just how desperate the situation has become.

“Chester Zoo has been fighting for this species for over a decade. We helped build the breeding programme that now holds almost every individual known to exist. But while conservation breeding buys time, it isn't a solution on its own. This new action plan is about giving the species a future in the wild. That's what drives us.”

The action plan - developed at a four-day workshop in Java in late 2025 - sets out more than 80 actions to be implemented over the next ten years. These range from targeting illegal online trade networks and working with mountain hiking communities, to expanding the coordinated breeding programme and developing plans for the eventual reintroduction of birds bred in human care into protected wild habitats.

The plan also highlights the species' cultural significance in Indonesia, where it is known as the Ekek Geling - a name derived from the Sundanese community's description of its distinctive call. Historically prized for its song, the bird became caught up in Indonesia's competitive songbird trade, which experts believe has driven it to the very edge of extinction.

Chester Zoo and its partners are now calling for urgent international support - financial and practical - to implement the plan's recommendations before it is too late.

The Conservation Action Plan for the Javan Green Magpie (2026–2035) was developed at a workshop held in late 2025 at IPB Bogor Convention Centre, Indonesia. It was jointly organised by the IUCN SSC Asian Songbird Trade Specialist Group, the IUCN SSC Indonesia Species Specialist Group, and facilitated by the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group, with support from the EAZA Silent Forest Campaign.
Chester Zoo is a world-leading conservation and education charity committed to preventing extinction. Its 130-acre site in Chester is home to more than 500 threatened species. As a not-for-profit, the zoo channels everything into its conservation mission in the UK and around the world, working with more than 3,000 species globally across more than 20 countries.