Man escapes python's jaws
2005-06-23 14:09
Hoedspruit - A fisherman is recovering in hospital after a python grabbed and tried to swallow him alive in Limpopo on Wednesday morning.
John Malepe, 21, was fishing with a friend along a river in The Willows village near Hoedspruit about 11:00 and then went into the bush to relieve himself.
"About five minutes later I heard him shout for help and scream 'A big snake, a big snake!'," said his friend, Andrew Rashidi, 39, on Thursday.
Rashidi, a former soldier in the 113 Battalion in Phalaborwa, said he rushed to Malepe's aid and found a large python wrapping itself around Malepe's slender frame.
"He was in a sitting position and the snake's head was just in front of his face," he said.
He threw rocks at the python, which opened its mouth and started hissing.
When the rocks didn't make the giant snake release Malepe, Rashidi used a stick to repeatedly stab the python in its gaping mouth.
"It was only then that the snake released John, hurling him about nine metres away," said Rashidi.
Ran away
Malepe leapt up and ran, while the snake disappeared in the other direction. Rashidi ran after his friend, eventually catching up with him when he collapsed on a soccer field about 250m away.
Rashidi raised the alarm in the village. A car was arranged and Malepe was rushed to Sekororo hospital where he is being treated for shock.
"Doctors told us that he had suffered an extreme fright because he realised he could have died," said Rashidi.
Snake handler and expert at the nearby Swadini snake park, Vikani Marima, said pythons usually hibernate in winter, but that the snake might have been disturbed.
He said pythons seldom attacked humans, and instead preferred animals, which included dogs.
He said it may be that Malepe had touched a dog recently and smelt like an animal.
The African rock python is the third-largest snake in the world and can live up to 30 years.
It likes to be near water and the edges of forests. It kills by coiling its body around its prey and then squeezing tight until the creature suffocates to death.
The African python is listed as a protected species, which means that a special permit is needed to capture them, and that anyone who kills them can be arrested.