Posted on 09/19/2013 8:12:34 PM PDT by Theoria
A dog owner is sharing his heartbreaking story after a python came out of nowhere and killed his dog in the backyard.
***WARNING*** The images for this story may be disturbing to some viewers ***WARNING***
Angel Bichara's son is still too traumatized to speak on camera about how he tried but failed to save the family dog, Duke, from the grip of a rock python in the backyard of their West Miami-Dade home. "He heard the dog barking and then he heard the dog crying, so when he walked outside, he saw the snake had grabbed on to the dog's nose area and had wrapped up," said Bichara.
Bichara's son first tried to pull the 10-foot snake off the 4-year-old, 60-pound Husky's neck with his bare hands. "So he grabbed it by his neck, and he was not able to move it because the snake was so strong he couldn't do anything," said Bichara. "So he grabbed the shovel, he hit it, and it didn't do anything. It just got the snake even more mad. It pissed him off. The snake even lunged at him and everything, but it never let go of the dog."
He then tried to cut the snake off with garden clippers, but at that point it was too late.
The family then called 911:
Operator: "Dade County Police and Fire, what is the address of your emergency?"
Bichara: "Hi, we have like a 6-foot python in our backyard that just killed our 90-pound dog."
The Bichara's believe the rock python might have come from nearby bushes in search of a meal.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsvn.com ...
Florida is starting to make California look...normal?
Dog and snake ping.
A 22 rifle with a CCI shotshell aimed right in the head would have killed the python and saved the dog. Works great on poisonous snakes at seven yards.
Just WOW. Too bad he did not have a handgun, or a good, sharp hunting knife, to slice the snake in two. It can be hard to cut with the hedge clippers, especially when opened wide. They never said if the snake was killed, or got away!
The snake’s head was clamped down on the dog’s snout. That would have to be one precise shot to avoid damaging the dog.
Snakes hate alcohol, especially high proof in strong liquor. Pouring vodka or whiskey on the snake’s head (or preferably solvent-grade ethanol) would have made him let go and uncoil from the dog.
I'm afraid to ask how you figured that out. ;)
That boy can either live out the rest of his life waking up in a cold sweat and screams, or become a great python hunter. I hope it’s the latter.
Florida should have an extermination/eradication project to rid the state of pythons to the extent possible. Nothing positive can come of a growing population of such snakes.
Yeah. Alligators were almost wiped out. Lets try again with these guys.
No reason to ever consider pythons an endangered species in the US. They didn’t originate here and they’ll cause nothing but trouble as long as they’re here and multiplying.
He should have ran for the butcher knife. Practically every household has one.
Might work on venomous snakes but won’t work on the big coluboid snakes.
Once a large constrictor has struck and is constricting, the only way to stop it is to break it’s concentration. The best and most reliable way to do that is to make what is in it’s mouth taste really, really bad. Listerine, alcohol, vinegar usually works very well.
Putting a bullet in the snake will cause thrashing and will usually end up killing the animal being constricted that much faster.
Most people don’t understand just how powerful large constrictors are. Death throes of these animals can be quite violent and last a long time.
Unfortunately, there is a breeding population of quite a few different species of snakes in the Everglades. The media likes to concentrate on the big boids but there are breeding populations of some very dangerous venomous snakes there as well.
Barring a very cold cycle in the region, it’s going to be next to impossible to eliminate the population of introduced species there. With that being said, there aren’t as many as most people say there are or fear that there are.
Education and knowledge will help on dealing with the issue there but it’s going to be very hard to eliminate all the snake species that were introduced.
Most people don’t understand just how powerful large constrictors are. Death throes of these animals can be quite violent and last a long time.
Bichara is incorrect in his assumption that a 10 foot python was stalking a 60 pound dog for a meal. A dog that big would be very difficult for a snake that size to ingest.
Given that the necropsy done on the snake shows bite marks that match the dog, what most likely happened was the dog attacked the snake and paid the price for it.
A sad situation all the way around.
Don’t bet on it. There are more than a few instances where snakes end up burned in captivity because of faulty heating pads under the tanks. Snakes process heat indication far differently than most other animals do. By the time they realize it’s hot, it’s too late, they’re burned.
Even a sharp stick or knife through the top of the very soft and vulnerable skull.
The standard protocol for breaking a constrictor’s bite is rubbing alcohol or vinegar in its mouth.
However, I’m not sure the average person could do it fast enough.
Death is very quick and the internal damage probably irreparable.
I’m for microchipping exotic snakes.
When something happens, there’s a record of who is responsible.
This snake didn’t swim here from Africa.
Hope it is dead.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.