Thursday, February 28, 2008
Python eats family dog in front of children
An Australian family whose pet guinea pig, cat and dog were eaten by giant pythons menacing their tropical home fears their children could be next on the predators' menu.
The Peric family watched in horror this week as their much-loved Chihuahua was swallowed by a 16.5 ft long scrub python on the verandah of their home in Kuranda, Queensland.
Despite hurling chairs at the snake, it was undeterred and they were unable to save the family pet.
"Actually watching it unfold before your eyes was pretty gut-wrenching," Daniel Peric told the Cairns Post yesterday. "We'd had the dog about five years, so it was part of the family."
A pet guinea pig and a cat had fallen victim to snakes in recent weeks and he said he was now worried about his two young children, Ethan, 5, and Talia, 7, who witnessed the python eat their pet dog...
People, you have giant dog-eating pythons in your yard. Be prepared with something more than a chair, yknow?
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My oldest daughter and her family live on an acreage in a rural area in a Southwestern state. Her request for a Christmas present this year was help with dealing with rabid coyotes, an increasing problem in her area. I gave her a .40 cal S&W carbine. I chose this caliber because I was also able to give her and my son in law a supply of shotgun load shells for this weapon, used to deal with the snakes which are also a threat to her, my grandson, and the family dogs, one of whom has already survived a bite from a Western Diamondback.
The difference between her, and the Australian family, is that ownership of this gun is legal in the United States, while Australia has very restrictive gun laws that would preclude this family from having any kind of protection from predatory animals.
Ya know, on an island continent like Australia, responsible pet ownership should include keeping your household pets indoors (obligate carnivores like cats especially). What the heck was a guinea pig doing outside and apparently far enough away from its humans to get caught by a big snake??? After losing 2 pets, why wasn't the dog on a leash? And yes, why hasn't an ax been taken to this snake????
Sounds like some humans have been out in the sun too long....
let's see.......... knife, bat, golf club, lighter and aerosol spray can?
A snake can't use it's head nor most of its body to defend itself while its attacking the animal?
A decent kitchen cleaver could deal with the snake and make a good meal out of it.
I have a friend whose son is a park ranger in the everglades, and had to deal with an 18 foot Burmese python a few months ago. I have never been called a coward, but there is no way I get closer than shotgun range to a snake that big. Grass snakes, garter snakes, black snakes, king snakes and corn snakes, all of which inhabit my yard, I catch and move when mowing, so I don't run over them. Timber rattlers are relegated to a long handled hoe.