In a plot twist that even Hollywood's Jodie Foster couldn't have scripted, a 15ft python at Chester Zoo has become the first snake in the world to receive a pioneering cancer treatment typically reserved for humans. The 50kg reticulated python, who shares her name with the Oscar-winning actress, has just turned 23 and is now reportedly eating normally and 'back to her usual bright and feisty self' after undergoing electrochemotherapy.

Keepers first suspected something was off when Jodie began eating less and spending more time lounging around her habitat - which, for a snake, is basically the equivalent of a human binge-watching Netflix for a week. A diagnosis revealed a fibrosarcoma, a malignant tumour, in her jaw. Surgery removed it, but it returned with a vengeance, invading her jawbone. With her life on the line, veterinary officer Ian Ashpole and cancer specialists decided to think outside the terrarium and adapt electrochemotherapy for a snake.

'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,' Ashpole said. '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.'

Jodie, whose name comes from the 'JF' on her paperwork - shorthand for 'juvenile female' - is so massive that no single operating table could hold her. Staff pushed two together, creating a platform the size of a double bed. She was anaesthetised in her habitat, carried to the veterinary centre, and underwent a 90-minute procedure. Ashpole removed the tumorous mass and part of her diseased jawbone, then delivered electrochemotherapy to mop up any remaining cancer cells. The treatment combines the drug bleomycin with precisely controlled electrical pulses that make cancer cells more permeable, letting the drug slip in like a spy through a security checkpoint.

Jose Alvarez Picornell, of the University of Liverpool's department of small animal clinical science, called the success 'a testament to the power of collaboration.' He added, '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.'

A final check this week confirmed Jodie remains free of cancer. Pythons can unhinge their jaws to swallow prey many times the size of their head, and staff report she continues to strike, grip, and swallow food without difficulty - proving that even after a brush with death, she's still got a killer instinct. Or at least a lunch instinct.