Posted on 01/22/2021 11:44:57 PM PST by nickcarraway
She called for her dog several times on Monday (Jan 18), but when the Pomeranian failed to respond, a woman called her husband to see if he had brought their dog, Mia, to the office. When he said no, the 39-year-old Australian national felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
She stepped out of her apartment in Eleven@Holland and circled around the back of the complex when she came across a blood-chilling sight — a three-metre-long python wrapped around Mia, swallowing the dog's head.
In an interview with Lianhe Wanbao, the woman said she was so shocked by what she saw that she wasn't able to move for five minutes.
After she recollected herself, she ran to call for help from the estate's security guards and authorities, as well as her friends who lived nearby.
The Animals Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) was called in for assistance afterwards. As the python had gotten itself stuck in a hole, leaving only a third of itself visible, it took three rescuers two and a half hours before they were able to dig it out, Acres told AsiaOne.
The dog's sudden death left her owners at a complete loss. The couple had had Mia for seven years — she joined their family while they were still living in Australia.
When they moved to Singapore two months ago, they hadn't expected such a tragedy to befall upon them.
Their two-year-old daughter, whose best friend and companion had been Mia, doesn't know of the dog's fate yet. Unwilling to break the toddler's heart, the couple told her that the dog returned to their old home for a "holiday".
Dog's incessant barking might have been warnings According to the woman, prior to Mia's death, the dog would regularly stand on their apartment's balcony and bark in the direction of the estate's swimming pool.
She believed Mia might have noticed that there was a python hidden in the space behind the pool.
While she doesn't know how or why Mia ran out that day, the woman believed her dog had tried to chase the python away but unfortunately lost her life doing so.
Other animals, both pets and strays, have fallen victim to hungry pythons.
In 2018, horrified passers-by watched as a large python attempted to swallow a stray cat. Although it eventually abandoned its meal, the cat was already dead.
Another two snakes were rescued in 2018 and 2019. Both had swollen bellies, which authorities believed were due to them having fed on stray cats.
Just last year, another python was spotted with its jaws clamped around the head of a cat.
Kalai Varnan, the co-CEO of Acres, told Stomp in 2019: "Pythons have adapted well to urban areas and mostly feed on rats. However, when the opportunity rises, they do go for cats who frequent drains."
He also told AsiaOne that while reticulated pythons can be found islandwide, they're generally shy creatures. Should members of the public come across one, they should call the Animal Response Centre at 1800-476-1600 or the Acres Wildlife Rescue Centre at 9783 7782.
I remember when I was younger and would catch several 6 foot blk snakes every summer on our road. After a summer rain they would lay on the hot pavement. I’d walk up slowly from behind and grab them behind the head; they’d wrap up my arm with that snake smell. I’d tell the wife she had to shift gears for me. She’d be sticking to the passenger window, ha. I’d let them go at the house and the dog would get everyone of them eventually; bite them in half.
“Folks, nature is where everything eats everything else.”
And please remember, in nature YOU are on the menu.
They need a bigger dog.
At hat point the dogs dead.
“ Folks, nature is where everything eats everything else.”
A wise man told me nature is about 2 things and 2 things only.
Food and sex.
That's a novel way of looking at it. They certainly engulf.
But since it is going down the throat, we say swallow, even if it isn't a mammalian peristalsis.
You won that round with a big word!
>> “The dentist related a story about how he was on a hunting trip to Northern Australia when he ‘stepped over a log’”. <<
I’ve heard that it’s not a good idea to step over a log, even when it’s a real one. You’re liable to step onto or next to a venomous snake, lying up against the hidden side. If you step instead on the top of the log (being sure it’s really a log), you can see better where you’re stepping, and step farther away from the log with your next step.
“...she wasn’t able to move for five minutes.”
Me? That would’ve been a dead snake in about 5 seconds flat.
I don not believe a python can quickly release its prey quickly in order to strike.
A snake unlatched its jaw to swallow prey.
To strike it would have to release the prey animal and rematch the jaw.
Also a snakes teeth are hook shaped pointed to the back of the head to make it more difficult for prey to escape and to move the prey toward the throat. This would also make it difficult to release the dog.
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
;)
I would give you that the dog has probably stopped breathing .
But if quick enough it could be revived.
Given that they did not get to the dog until more than 20 minutes or more later I would say that it was a wasted effort to dig the python out of the hole, other than vengeance.
Thanks for the information. I knew about the teeth being slanted backwards but not about its unlatching its jaw.
We live on the edge of a eucalypt forest, I’ve had three guinea fowl disappear in the past few weeks. As they are feral, I can’t confine them (they fly) so the most likely culprit is a carpet snake.
Can’t do much about it...they hunt at night. I never let my cat outside after dusk.
I know I would have run back into the house and grabbed my sharpest knife and something substantial to smash with. No way would I have waited for the “authorities”. By the time they came, dog was dead.
Marlin Perkins would have sent Jim to save the dog.
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