NORMAN - Merlin the Python is back home after disappearing for 10 days.

Now, police in Norman are investigating how he vanished and how he returned.

Merlin -- a 12-foot-long albino Burmese python -- vanished from the Little River Zoo in Norman on Sept. 27. The zoo's Janet Sadler Schmid says straps had been taken off Merlin's cage and the lid was set off to the side.

At about 2 p.m. Monday, someone left a red sack at the zoo's entrance containing Merlin -- a little cold, a little hungry, but unharmed.

Officials were concerned that the longer Merlin went without eating, the more dangerous he would become. Scmid says he's not venomous, but he will constrict on people.

It's the second time Merlin has disappeared in the last two weeks.