A huge python has ᴅᴇᴠᴏᴜʀᴇᴅ a wallaby whole in a ꜰʀɪɢʜᴛᴇɴᴇᴅ Australian’s backyard, after record floods swept reptiles out of their habitats and into homes.
The ᴘᴀɴɪᴄ-sᴛʀɪᴄᴋᴇɴ resident of Queensland’s Flying Fish Point called a snake catcher after spotting the 13-foot (four metres) scrub python when it came close to ᴇᴀᴛɪɴɢ his dog. And it wasn’t just a small, snack-sized Jack Russell, either – the snake was trying to ᴄʜᴏᴡ ᴅᴏᴡɴ on a German Shepherd. Must’ve been hungry.
The region was recently pounded by a tandem monsoon and heavy floods that carried wayward crocodiles and snakes into human environments. Which, as you can imagine, isn’t really ideal.
Confronting snapshots show the serpent’s jaws wrapped around the hapless marsupial, putting the ʙʀᴜᴛᴀʟɪᴛʏ of the animal kingdom on full display.
Snake catcher John Boettcher, 43, said: “When we arrived I thought, ‘Wow, that is a massive snake.’” He’s not daft, is he?
John continued: “It was challenging to relocate it without sᴛʀᴇssɪɴɢ the snake out so that it doesn’t regurgitate the wallaby. With all the rain we’ve had, the python must have been sent out in the open in search of a feed and that’s how it ended up in a residential area.
“The home owner that called us was concerned as the snake had just gone after his pet German Shepherd dog, which is pretty rare in this area.”
The Amethystine python is a species of nonvenomous snake. Popular among reptile enthusiasts, and noted for its coloration and size, the Amethystine python is one of the six largest snakes in the world, as measured either by length or weight; it is also the largest native snake in Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Amethystine pythons are solitary nocturnal creatures. They are also very good swimmers and will travel by water when it is required. Amethystine pythons are “sit and wait” are ᴘʀᴇᴅᴀᴛᴏʀs. They typically remain motionless in a camouflaged position, and then sᴛʀɪᴋᴇ suddenly at passing ᴘʀᴇʏ which is then ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ by constriction; they quickly wrap a number of coils around the ᴘʀᴇʏ and sᴜꜰꜰᴏᴄᴀᴛᴇ an animal.
John said that pythons are opportunistic foragers. After the German Shepard made its escape, it happened to stumble upon the wallaby.
To capture this special moment, John took out his camera and took amazing pictures to show everyone the snake’s sᴡᴀʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ability. He and his teammates waited for nearly an hour for the python to consume all the wallaby. The snake was then placed in a black bag and released back into the wild.
