"Python Swallows Dog"

[naba2002]

hahaha heeeere boy.... come on boy where are ya??? OMG!!!!! i can only imagine having to find that in ur back yard several times and doing nothin till it was too late.... not very clever

[ADEE]

thats terrible.. absolutly awful. it goes above the thought of a precious pet being eaten by a snake (Wild or not) but then to add in the fact that innocent children had to stand by and watch. its totally messed up and insane! Its terrible to think this could have been avoided grrrr

[ADEE]

wtf why is there a picture of a boa on the article?

i was just thinking the same exact thing!! in the first article it said it was a scrub python, not a boa...totally different species all together!

[spix14]

Yea, wtf to the pic of the boa...

"It actively stalked the dog for a number of days. The family that owned the dog had actually seen it in the dog's bed, which was a sign it was out to get it," Douglas told local media.

And I simply cannot believe that some one who is supposed to work with reptiles said something that asinine. The snake was in the dogs bed so it was out to get it? What kind of crap is that to be spewing? Since when do snakes stalk their prey for days before eating it? And wtf, if there was a snake in my backyard eating every animal I own maybe just MAYBE I wouldn't let the f***ing dog outside. ARGHHHH. I'm so mad I could explode.

[dalvers63]

Being as this was a wild scrub python in Australia, it was the family that has the issue, not the snake. When there are predators living close to you, you take precautions with your animals. If not, this is what happens.

I was glad to see that they will be releasing the snake in the bush in a few days. The idiot that wrote the article though, needs to learn a few things about how snakes hunt. The old wives tale about a snake "stalking" the prey and the dog being a "goner" once the snake was in it's bed, that's just asinine. I wish there was a way to comment on the UK story...showing a boa instead of the real picture of the scrub is just going to cause people problems.

[MelissaFlipski]

thats terrible.. absolutly awful. it goes above the thought of a precious pet being eaten by a snake (Wild or not) but then to add in the fact that innocent children had to stand by and watch. its totally messed up and insane! Its terrible to think this could have been avoided grrrr

Yeah, terrible. It's called "no parental supervision." My kids would be blindfolded and in the house. Oh, yeah, that would never happen to me, b/c like the rest of you, I would have had the dog inside except for supervised bathroom breaks. When the snake came around, I would have a quick photo shoot while my husband was calling the wildlife people.

i was just thinking the same exact thing!! in the first article it said it was a scrub python, not a boa...totally different species all together!

That's the media for ya. Here is a link to submit a comment for them to correct this egregious error, which I just did.
http://reuters-en.custhelp.com/cgi-b...&prod_lvl2=565

Thanks for sharing, OP.

[ADEE]

Melissa, im glad im not the only one who thought the whole thing is totally crazy. Im a parent and pet owner and I couldnt even fathom letting our children watch the snakes eat their natural prey let alone a family pet! totally messed up. can you imagine those children having a lifetime fear of snakes because of their parents irresponsibility and negligence

[Colin Vestrand]

'It actively stalked the dog for a number of days. The family that owned the dog had actually seen it in the dog's bed, which was a sign it was out to get it," Douglas told local media.'


i actually think that is valid proof the snake was after the dog. scrubs are extremely intelligent as far as pythons go... think of it like a snake using sent cues to find its way into a burrow and wait for a rat or whatever to return.
as far as the story... i have to imagine that there's several hundred other aussies out there thinking, 'big deal, that happens all the time'. especially in brisbane where the morelia species are abundant and being pushed to the limit by suburban sprawl.

[spix14]

I just kind of thought it a bit of a stretch to think the python hung around for days waiting for one little dog...when it could have easily moved off somewhere else and found other prey. I suppose when you look at in in the bed=rodent burrow way it does make sense though.

[Colin Vestrand]

yeah who knows. and i'm sorry if that came off cocky, that wasnt a stab at anyone else's opinion...