how to catch the MultipleObjectsReturned error in django

Use a filter:

Location.objects.filter(name='Paul').first()

Or import the exception:

from django.core.exceptions import MultipleObjectsReturned
...
try:
    Location.objects.get(name='Paul')
except MultipleObjectsReturned:
    Location.objects.filter(name='Paul').first()

This is more pythonic way to do it.

try:
    Location.objects.get(name='Paul')
except Location.MultipleObjectsReturned:
    Location.objects.filter(name='Paul')[0]