A huge 23-ft long python that swallowed a goat whole has been captures by firefighters in Malaysia.
Astonished farmers found the snake, which tips the scales at 308lbs or 140 kilos, spark out in an enclosure with a huge goat-shaped lump in its stomach.
Experts believe the reticulated python was so exhausted digesting its massive meal on 19th October that it could not move away.
Pictures show the snake stretched out on the ground in Kubang Pasu, Kedah state, with a thick lump in the middle of its coils.
Another picture shows one firefighter keeping a tight grip on the python’s head while it shows off its massive jaws.
Firefighters said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “We received the report at 8.23am and reached the scene shortly after.
“A total of four members were deployed and arrived at the scene 25 minutes later.
“After arriving at the location, Kubang Pasu Civil Defence Force members saw that the reticulated python had swallowed a goat that was in the goat pen near the complainant’s house.
“It didn’t take long before the crew captured the snake and brought it back to the department.”
The snake was later handed to experts at the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Peninsular Malaysia to be returned to the wild.
The reticulated python, Malayopython reticulatus, is native to South and Southeast Asia.
Its considered the world’s longest snake and the third heaviest after the green anaconda and the Burmese python.
It’s listed as ‘least concern’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to its wide distribution.
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Story By: Georgina Jedikovska, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Central European News
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