Checking around doorways and the backs of ankles, Southeast’s missing, well-known pet, Loogie, truly had students on their toes during the week of March 18. At around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19, Science teacher Eric Hanson noticed that the 7-year-old, 4-foot-long, nonvenemous corn snake was not in his large glass tank in room G112. Not quite to the point of panic, he asked owner of the pet, Biology teacher Laurel Schmitz, if she knew where he was.

“I said, ‘Well, no, he’s in the tank somewhere, he’s always in the tank somewhere,’” Schmitz said, recounting what she told Hanson. “So, we went through and removed everything [in the tank], and he wasn’t in there.”

As the teacher’s initial reaction set in, Schmitz said that she thought Loogie had possibly escaped from his tank late Monday night. However, she soon put this theory out of her mind, believing this was uncharacteristic for her docile snake who had never before tried to climb out of his tank. They soon discovered, from an attentive student who usually checks on Loogie, that he had gone missing between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

According to Schmitz, the classroom that Loogie is kept in is occupied by staff members at all points during the day, which made this mystery especially confusing. However, on this particular day, the entire student body and all teachers were distracted, attending the Spring Pep Rally, so the classroom was empty.

“We’re just really not sure [what happened],” Schmitz said. “It’s just unfortunate because, first of all, he’s my pet, and second of all, he needs specific conditions to be healthy to live in and that’s what we provide for him when he’s in his tank.”

Since that classroom was unsupervised during the pep rally, it was suspected by administration that a student was involved in the disappearance – the possibilities including coming into the classroom, taking Loogie out, stashing him in a backpack or letting him run free through the school. This is difficult to prove, although Schmitz said they were doing all that they can to retrieve the beloved school pet who so many students know and love.

“They’ve been helping with reviewing hours and hours of video camera surveillance footage,” Schmitz said. “Unfortunately, the classroom that Loogie’s kept in has so many entry points of different adjoining classrooms and offices, so it’s kind of hard to know which cameras to watch.”

Rallying behind Schmitz and the entire Science department, students at Southeast had heard about this and a few even took to their Snapchat stories to spread hashtags, saying things like “#freeLoogie.”

“People get a little bummed out when they hear about the fact that something that is a cool, enriching experience for all students is no longer an option… I would utilize him in lessons for Biology and I would talk about him. I enjoyed getting him out when we had time. It sucked to have that aspect removed from my day.”

Fortunately, on Monday, March 25, during second period, Loogie was found wrapped around the metal bar of a desk in room G112, his homeroom. When he was put back into his tank, according to Schmitz, he immediately burrowed in the bedding to find his heat pad and warm up after his nearly week-long excursion.

“Crazy! I’m just happy he is back in his tank, safe and sound,” Schmitz said.