« on: March 16, 2009, 08:22:08 AM »
<http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2009/03/14/39135_ntnews.html>
Python makes meal of maltese terrier
A PYTHON has devoured a Territory woman's 5.8kg pet dog, including the collar and name tag.
Patty Buntine's three-year-old maltese terrier-cross Bindi disappeared from her Katherine home last Wednesday.
Ms Buntine said she was worried when Bindi failed to show up for her routine 7am breakfast.
"She was always there so I got worried and went to look for her," she said.
"I went around the side of the house and that's when I found the snake. It couldn't move and had its head up in a striking position."
"It's belly was bulging - it looked like a great big coconut was inside it.
"I knew straight away that it had ate Bindi.
"I felt terrible - it's not very nice at all to think my little dog went that way."
Ms Buntine said Bindi was a lively dog and she was shocked the snake even got her.
"She was a little smarty pants and would race away if she knew you were going to bath her or take her to the vet or something. She was always darting all over the place.
"I don't know how she didn't realise this thing was creeping up on her."
She called snake catcher David Reed from Reedy's Reptiles to collect the snake. Mr Reed wrote on his website - www.reedysreptiles.com - about the "one-of-a-kind" callout.
"I've had a lot of calls about dogs that have been bitten by snakes, and I have even had an olive python that had eaten some new-born puppies, but never one like this," he said.
"The maltese terrier was 5.8kg, and the combined weight of the olive python and the dog is a whopping 16kg."
"Therefore theoretically the weight of the snake is around 10kg, meaning that the olive has consumed 60 per cent of its body weight in a single meal.
"It really is amazing - it's equivalent to a 100kg man eating a 60kg steak, or an average 16-year-old teenager male!"
Pics: Territory animals feasting on their fellow fauna
Mr Reed told the Northern Territory News last night that the snake in question was still digesting its meal a week later.
If you do have a snake in your yard or house contact 0407 983 276 if you live in Alice Springs, 1800 453 210 in Darwin, Palmerston and the rural area or 0407 934 252 in Katherine.
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