This footage shows a huge python biting a man’s hand as he tries to capture it at the entrance to an upmarket shopping centre as children walk by on their way to school.
It was reportedly spotted after emerging from the drains and can be seen doing its best to avoid capture as pest control employees struggle to stuff it into a bag and even stand on it.
Video footage shows at least seven men struggling to force the giant 10-foot (3-metre) reptile into a sack after it was seen coiled up outside Singapore’s Tang Plaza shopping centre, scaring shoppers and passing school children.
Video Credit: AsiaWire
A pest control firm was called and their staff, aided by a security guard, tried to bag the snake, a reticulated python. But it put up such a fight they gave up on that idea and in the end three of them
carried it away by hand.
One of the men can be seen recoiling in pain as he tried to hold the snake down, before he goes to one side to nurse what appears to be a hurt hand, in scenes captured by locals on their mobile phones.
However, animal experts criticised the rescue attempt, claiming pest controllers were not always suitably qualified to handle such big snakes and they were heavy handed, occasionally treading on the animal to keep it under control.
The colourful python was handed over to Wildlife Reserves Singapore said a spokesperson for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).
Onlookers described the serpent as ‘huge’. Housewife Tess Fernando, 49, said her son saw it on his way to school and sent her a photo of the animal which prompted her to go to the Orchard Road scene herself.
She said: “I went down to see it for myself – and there it was. It was huge, really long and big.”
Most of the men handling the snake wore shirts indicating they are from Anticimex, a pest control firm. An Anticimex spokesman said it could not comment on the incident.
Veteran wildlife expert, Subaraj Rajathurai, said pest control firms should not be called to handle snakes.
He said: “You call pest control for rats. Snakes, which are wild animals, are not pests. These firms are not trained to handle such animals.”
Reticulated pythons (Python reticulatus) are among the most common snakes in Singapore and feed on rats and other small animals but can be aggressive to humans if they feel threatened.
It is thought to have emerged from the drainage system connected to an underground canal. Animals use the system to get around the city.
Earlier this month a python was found in the toilet of a flat in Singapore and in October a woman was bitten by one outside her home.
A spokesperson for the AVA said: “Keep a safe distance from the animals and avoid confronting or cornering them. Do not interact with the animals, and ensure that young children and pets are kept away from them.”
Story By: Mark Simons, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: AsiaWire
