World-First Cancer Treatment Saves 15-Foot Python Named After Jodie Foster

A Beloved Zoo Resident Falls Ill

Jodie Foster, a 15-foot, 50-kilogram reticulated python who has called Chester Zoo home for two decades, has made a full recovery after becoming what's believed to be the first snake in the world to receive electrochemotherapy, a pioneering cancer treatment normally reserved for humans. Keepers first grew concerned about the 23-year-old python when she began eating less and spending more time inactive in her habitat, changes that prompted the zoo's veterinary team to run tests.

Those tests confirmed a fibrosarcoma, a malignant tumor, growing in her jaw. Vets initially removed it surgically, but the tumor returned and began invading her jawbone, leaving the team facing the real possibility of losing her.

Where Her Name Came From

Jodie's name has a fittingly quirky origin story: when she first arrived at Chester Zoo as a young snake, staff noticed her paperwork was simply marked "JF," shorthand for "juvenile female." Someone decided the initials suited the Oscar-winning actress, and the name stuck for the two decades since.

A Collaboration Between Zoo Vets and Human Cancer Specialists

Facing a tumor that surgery alone couldn't fully resolve, Chester Zoo's veterinary team turned to cancer specialists at the nearby University of Liverpool to adapt electrochemotherapy, a technique that combines the cancer drug bleomycin with a series of targeted electrical pulses delivered directly to the tumor site. Those pulses temporarily make cancer cells more permeable, allowing the drug to penetrate and destroy them more effectively than either the drug or the electrical pulses could achieve alone. While other creatures, including a turtle and a lizard, have received ECT treatment in the past according to case reports in medical science databases, the Chester Zoo team believes this marks the first time it's ever been used on a snake.

Ian Ashpole, Veterinary Officer at Chester Zoo, described the moment the tumor came back as a turning point that convinced the team more surgery alone wouldn't be enough, pushing them toward the experimental approach. Performing surgery on an animal Jodie's size required some creative problem-solving in itself: two operating tables had to be pushed together to accommodate her, effectively creating a surface the size of a double bed, while the team used heated blankets and warmed air throughout the roughly 90-minute procedure to keep her body temperature stable.

Jose Alvarez Picornell of the University of Liverpool's small animal and clinical science department, who worked alongside Ashpole on adapting the treatment, called the outcome a testament to the value of collaboration between zoo medicine and human cancer specialists, adding that the work stands to benefit the wider veterinary community going forward, not just Jodie herself.

A Full Recovery

Months after the procedure, a follow-up check confirmed Jodie is fully cancer-free, eating normally, and back to what staff describe as her usual "bright and feisty" self. Ashpole was candid about how uncertain the outlook had looked at points during treatment, saying that a few months earlier, the team genuinely didn't know whether she'd survive. He framed the case as a reflection of how far veterinary medicine has advanced, noting that zoo vets now move between wildly different patients, from a frog weighing just a few grams to a 15-foot python, sometimes within the same week, which he said is part of what makes the job so interesting.

Why This Case Matters Beyond One Python

Beyond Jodie's individual recovery, the case reflects a broader trend in veterinary medicine: animals are increasingly being treated with drugs and therapies originally developed for human cancer patients, as specialists find ways to adapt human medical advances for use across a widening range of species. Chester Zoo has framed the successful treatment as evidence of what's possible when zoo veterinary teams and human medical specialists pool their expertise, potentially opening the door for electrochemotherapy and similar techniques to be used on other reptiles or exotic species facing comparable diagnoses in the future.

Sources

• Chester Zoo — World-first cancer treatment saves python after tumour destroys part of her jaw
• CNN — Python receives pioneering cancer treatment usually used in humans
• Phys.org — Pioneering cancer treatment saves python named Jodie Foster: UK zoo
• CTV News — Pioneering cancer treatment saves python named Jodie Foster: U.K. zoo
• Dawn — Pioneering cancer treatment saves python at UK zoo