This lady fought off a python to rescue her cat!

This sharing is from Ms Jo-Ann Koh, with her consent.

Ms Koh is one of the applicants of our Neutering Aid package.

Note: No images of the python in this post.

It happened two days ago:

Just today, at 8pm, I had no idea how I was still standing on two legs… I was more than ready to call it a night when one of my outdoors, Jerry, got attacked by a python. A young reticulated python about 6ft long. I had to get the snake off him, I had to run away from the snake when it got mad at me and came after me, then I had to go after the snake when it started running away (so I could follow/ trap it and call Bomba…) but it got away, and suddenly I’m wide awake with all that adrenaline.

Jerry ran blindly, falling into the drain, and I had to get him out quickly, as the snake was also in the drain then… and then Jerry ran off, and all I can think about is did he get bit badly? Will he bleed out? If he survives, will he get sepsis? Where is he?

All these things… predators coming after our cats and we defending them; the cats just disappearing for days at an end; cats not wanting to eat, and we keep scrounging for food for them… kittens getting sick, needing round the clock care, dying on us… all these caregiving takes so much energy. And time…

Both resources are so finite.

A previous photo of Jerry, he’s a big-sized cat, around 5-6kg.

Today, finally, Jerry came back, most likely unscathed!! There’s more to the story too:

Jerry, yes, he’s returned! I found him gorging nonstop on kibbles last night at about 9pm, still jittery about the whole incident, naturally. Poor thing. Lucky for him I had gone out to feed Molly last night, I might not have heard that trashing on the wooden plank bridge, or I might just have dismissed it as another scuffle between him and the boys (other tomcats).

The python had him in its coils, so he and the python were writhling on the floor.

I picked them both up and bounced them off the road, stunning the snake long enough to let go. And then i repeatedly hit it with a piece of 4″x4″ lumber.  That’s what made it so angry  

I’m sorry, I have no sympathy for anything trying to eat my cats. My experience with monitor lizards taught me they would always come back and try again.

8pm, it was dark in the back alley of my house, and this snake had crawled out of the drain and was sitting by the back gate my cats use to come and go, so he ambushed Jerry, but there was enough light to see the reticulated pattern.

And if it escaped, and came back (repeatedly) what will happen to all my outdoor cats? And there are other cats down the alley.

Bomba will only come if wildlife has been confined and is being a nuisance inside the perimeter of our homes, so the job of confining it and preventing its escape for Bomba is on us.

Snake was already making its way into the pitch black drain.

Anyway, here are pictures of Jerry, very much alive and hungry.

He appears not to be mortally wounded, but will have to check his belly when he’s calmer.

Usually pythons will grip their prey with their fangs, but there appears to be no puncture wounds.

Jerry came back this morning, very hungry. He looks alright too. What a relief!

I’ve asked Ms Koh if she could keep all her cats indoors now, because the python might come back again.

The reticulated python is the third largest python in the world and they are found primarily in South East Asia. They can be aggressive and will attack humans if provoked. They will also bite.

I truly salute Ms Koh for her bravery in rescuing Jerry from the coils of this python.