This Queensland woman was not about to lose her baby to this bushland resident
Alone and pregnant, Queensland woman has told how she “screamed bloody murder” when confronted with the sight of the head of her four-month-old kitten in the jaws of a carpet python, but she was not about to lose it.
QLD News
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KIRSTY Da Silva was home alone and six months pregnant when she heard her cat scream.
She spun around from her gardening to see the head of her four-month-old Tonkinese kitten in the jaws of a carpet python, the snake’s body constricting Jethro’s tiny torso.
Moments later, Miss Da Silva, 40, had managed to unwrap the two metre long python from Jethro, but then found herself with the snake - the kitten still in its jaw - wrapped around her left arm.
“I had a snake in my left hand, a kitten tucked under my arm and the face of the snake a few centimetres from my face,” she said.
“Then I screamed bloody murder. It’s quite remote, there are not many houses out here, so I didn’t think anyone would hear any of my screaming and swearing.”
The Illinbah resident had recently lost her 16-year-old Tonkinese cat to smoke inhalation during the bushfires that swept through the Canungra area in 2019.
She was not about to also lose her new baby, who was only allowed outside when she was in the yard.
First, Miss Da Silva had tried to hit the python, but when it refused to release Jethro she picked up the snake by the back of its neck to force its jaw open.
“It then promptly thought I was a bigger threat and wrapped around my arms and bit or scratched me on my hand, but it still had a bottom fang in Jethro’s head,” she said.
“I had to unravel my right arm to get my phone out of my pocket and rang my neighbour. … (as) I couldn’t get the fang out of Jethro’s head.
“Another neighbour heard me screaming and came over as they thought I was going into premature labour.
“Even people I didn’t know came flying way up the road … There must have been a good wind that day for them to hear me,” she laughed.
A neighbour helped Miss Da Silva rush Jethro to a local vet where he was stabilised before being sent on to the Animal Emergency Service (AES) at Carrara on the Gold Coast.
The kitten was treated for bite marks to his head and underwent surgery at the Veterinary Specialist Services to mend a humeral fracture, or a fracture to his upper arm bone in his front leg.
Rod Meehan, director of the AES in Carrara, said Jethro was a very lucky kitten, who also escaped having damage to his lungs.
“Fortunately, he had no ribs broken or a skull fracture, which is amazing,” he said.
“Obviously, his owner got to him in time.”
Miss Da Silva, who sustained scratches and bruising to her arm, said although she had seen snakes on the property before, she never expected to end up wrestling a pet away from one that late February afternoon.
“It was more a case of ‘You’ve got my baby, how dare you,’” she said.
“I didn’t even think. I just reacted.
“I still see the snake fangs in my face as clear as day.”
Dr Meehan, 53, said although some small pets were constricted by pythons, snake bites were more common.
“In suburbia, most snake bites happen when the pets are being walked close to waterways,” he said.
“But most of the snakes are not out to get us. Their movements are usually defensive.
“They are not offensive or hunting us down.”
Matthew 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.