Jump to content

SNAKE EATS BOY


OVERsketched

Recommended Posts

Taken from www.theage.com.au

 

Children terrified as python eats boy

November 25 2002

By Jane Flanagan

Johannesburg

 

 

 

A six-metre African rock python has eaten a boy near Durban - the first recorded "man-eating" incident for the species.

 

For three hours other children hid up mango trees near the township of Lamontville, too terrified to flee, as the snake first trapped the 10-year-old and squeezed the life out of him, then swallowed him whole.

 

Police and snake experts found no trace of the child, or his clothing. They found nothing but flattened grass and a trail leading down to a stream.

 

The incident last week prompted widespread panic among the township's 50,000 residents and great fascination among herpetologists across the country.

 

Eleven-year-old Khaye Buthelezi, who saw the extraordinary attack, was persuaded to revisit the site on Saturday.

 

His eyes darting nervously for signs of the python, Khaye showed where his companion had been gathering fallen fruit when taken by the giant snake.

 

"The snake quickly wrapped itself around his body, pinning his arms to his side. He didn't cry or scream and neither did the rest of us - we didn't want the snake to come and take us as well," Khaye said.

 

"The snake squeezed tighter and tighter around him until his eyes closed and his head fell back so I thought he was dead or had fainted. Then the snake's mouth opened very, very wide and started to swallow him from the head down - his clothes and everything. It all took about three hours because it was dark when we saw it slither away and we finally came down from the tree."

 

Snake experts and the police followed the python's trail to a nearby stream, which the herpetologists said the snake would have used as an easy route to get away to digest its prey.

 

Craig Smith, the owner of a snake park in Durban, is one of those trying to find the python. "The children I spoke to had excellent detail about the snake's markings and killing technique, which suggested that they were either reptile experts or had had the chance to watch something like this for a very long time," he said. "This will be the first time this species has been known to be a man-eater."

 

He said the snake had probably just woken from its winter hibernation and was extremely hungry when the boy wandered into its path. "We have never had a case of an African rock python eating a human, but they are very opportunistic eaters and the snake was obviously hungry enough to think it could cope with a child," Mr Smith said.

 

Snake hunts are being organised each day to locate the python, but locals have been told not to kill it, but call in the experts instead.

 

Telegraph

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This forum is supported by the 12ozProphet Shop, so go buy a shirt and help support!
This forum is brought to you by the 12ozProphet Shop.
This forum is brought to you by the 12oz Shop.
Originally posted by sneak

well how was i ment to know that? i was just a youngun

 

i guess that's true. but it looked really fake to me when i saw it when it first came out. then again, you're probably a few years younger.... ghost busters looked real to me when i first saw it.

 

"i am zooooooool"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...