Posted on 05/08/2020 6:26:04 PM PDT by Candor7
A Kimberley man suffered bites to his hand during a desperate battle with a 2.5 metre python that tried to eat one of his kittens last week.
Nick Kearns, from Kununurra, in Western Australia's far north, said he did not hesitate when he heard his partner Karyn screaming in the early hours of the morning.
The python was in the garden and had coiled itself around Lil — short for "the little one" — and Mr Kearns, although not exactly suitably attired, raced to the rescue.
"I jumped up — naked of course — and ran outside," Mr Kearns said.
"I just couldn't unwrap it.
"I reckon I didn't have very long — I could see the cat was starting to slow down a bit."
While his partner held onto the reptile's tail, Mr Kearns tried everything he could to to free the kitten.
"I found the center of the coil near where her head would have been and just put my hand in there and grabbed the head," he said.
The snake uncoiled, but as Mr Kearns relaxed his grip it managed to bite his right hand.
He said the subsequent tetanus injection and scrapes from falling over hurt more than the bite itself.
"It was only later on I noticed there was blood everywhere," he said.
"It was all mine, from cuts and bites."
Mr Kearns was bitten on the hand during the struggle.
Mr Kearns had completed a snake handling course a couple of years ago and said he never doubted that it was a python, and therefore knew the serpent was not venomous.
"I did think at the time it would be nice if part of the lesson had been how to rescue a kitten," he said.
"There was no way I was going to stand by and let it eat the kitten."
Two young kittens lying on cat bed. Nick Kearns staged a nude rescue of Lil after a she was nearly eaten by a snake.
Mr Kearns says Lil remains a bit spooked and skittish.
He now checks his property every morning for snakes.
"They're just doing their thing, it wasn't actually anything against the snake," he said.
"But I'm just making sure we try and keep it as safe as we can."
He said the most important thing was not to panic and keep a tight grip.
"If you grab the back of the head they can't bite you," he said.
"The real lesson is 'don't let go'."
For me this would have been easy to deal with. Get up, grab my gun off the counter, put a couple bullets in the snake’s head. Game over.
The lesson here is: have a gun.
I like the kitten.
Hard to shoot the snake, it had a hold on the kittens lower jaw.
But a sharp knife could have done the job.
I could think of a way more interesting headline for this article
Kimberly, the Pink Power Ranger? She’s naked? Where?
In your dreams. I’d think “Kimberley man” might’ve been a clue here.
I thought I saw a comma before “man”. Though no man would protect her kitten from my snake.
I don’t have a gun, but I would have hacked at the snake with a knife or sprayed it with alcohol then threw a match at the part away from the kitten. No way would I let a snake eat any kitten.
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