Terrifying moment kitten, puppy ripped from jaws of hungry snakes
With snakes on the prowl earlier than usual across southeast Queensland, pet owners have been warned to watch out for their furry friends with these horrifying tales a reminder of how fast snakes can strike.
QLD News
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Fast-thinking pet owners have saved the lives of a kitten and a puppy in separate southeast Queensland snake attacks.
Jethro, a four-month-old Tonkinese kitten, was outside his Gold Coast home with his owners earlier this year when he was grabbed on the head by a 2m carpet python, which then started to constrict around the cat’s body, according to a post on the Animal Emergency Service Facebook page.
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“Jethro’s fast-acting and fast-thinking (owners) managed to pry the python off Jethro and rushed him to a near-by local vet...” the post stated.
Jethro was treated for bite marks to his head and underwent surgery at Veterinary Specialist Services to mend a fracture to his upper arm bone in his front leg.
The AES posted the case to remind locals that snakes were back on the prowl.
In an unrelated attack on the northside of Brisbane, an eight-week-old puppy was resuscitated on the way to an emergency vet after her owners also ripped her from the jaws of a python.
A post by the Brisbane Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Service said Maggie the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was grabbed by a large python while running around with her siblings during a recent winter afternoon.
“The snake struck her and then started constricting her,” the post said.
“Her family was able to rescue her … and resuscitated her on the way to the clinic.”
The puppy sustained wounds to the back of her neck, her face and a laceration to her cornea.
Steven Brown from Brisbane North Snake Catchers and Relocation told the Courier Mail Queensland’s snake season had started early this year after he was called to Wight’s Mountain, in Moreton Bay, to remove two male coastal python’s fighting over a female.
“Seeing it hasn’t gotten very cold this season and it’s already starting to warm up over the past couple weeks, snakes are starting to mate early,” he said.
“Normally we don’t really see this behaviour for about another month or so.”
Mathew Hampton from Fast Snake ID – Conservation and Rescue recommended residents clean their homes and backyards up to eliminate snake hiding places.
“Raise debris up off the ground, ensure outside pets are tidy without food scraps,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Familiarise yourself with local species – snakes have just as much right to be here as we do, our home is built where their home used to be.”
Mr Hampton also recommended having a local snake catcher’s number available should a snake ever need to be relocated.