Herpetology team hunts down python that terrorised elderly woman
A search of the reeds behind her home reveals three other snakes but fails to find the reticulated python that attacked her
Herpetologists have been attempting to hunt down the reticulated python that wrapped itself around a 64-year-old woman inside her rented room in Pak Khlong Bang Pla Kot subdistrict of Samut Prakan’s Phra Samut Chedi district on Tuesday but without success.
Police officers from Phra Samut Chedi Police Station and rescuers from Poh Teck Tung Foundation rushed to the five-roomed rental property at 10pm on Tuesday,
Officials broke open the door to the fourth room to discover a python measuring more than four metres and weighing at least 20 kilograms wrapped around the victim, Arom Arunroj.
It took longer than 30 minutes to free the woman. First aid was given before she was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for treatment. The python escaped into the reeds behind the room.
Kiattisak Meesang, assistant to the coordinator of the central regional herpetology club, and his team surveyed the rental property at 6.30pm on Wednesday and searched for the python for more than three hours.
The team caught three snakes during their search - a 1.20-metre-long reticulated python, a green pit viper and a green vine snake. However, they failed to spot the 4-metre reticulated python, which is believed to have been injured during the attempts to rescue the woman from its clutches.
Kiattisak, also known as Nick Wildlife, said the search around the rental property aimed to find ways to prevent a repeat of the incident, adding that he was sure more snakes would be living in the reeds behind the rental property.
He added that many species of snakes can be found in Samut Prakan, such as pythons and cobras.
Kiattisak advised anyone confronted by a python to grab its head rather than its tail before shouting for help.
“The most important thing is finding its head,” he said.
As pythons often ambush their prey at night, he also advised keeping the house tidy and limiting space for pets. Waste should be disposed of outside the house because rats and toads are among the python's preferred prey, he said.
