OMEN
03-20-2009, 01:28 PM
A PYTHON has devoured a Northern 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 week.
Ms Buntine said she was worried when Bindi failed to show up for her routine 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," she told the
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 said it was a "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."
Mr Reed told the Northern Territory News last night that the snake in question was still digesting its meal a week later.
Northern Territory News
Patty Buntine's three-year-old Maltese terrier-cross Bindi disappeared from her Katherine home last week.
Ms Buntine said she was worried when Bindi failed to show up for her routine 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," she told the
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 said it was a "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."
Mr Reed told the Northern Territory News last night that the snake in question was still digesting its meal a week later.
Northern Territory News