Snakes, historically and biblically, have something of a reputation when it comes to being ferocious animals.
Unfortunately, that reputation has been proven again after a python in Australia nearly took the life of a five-year-old by dragging him into a swimming pool.
Ben Blake told 3AW that his son Beau was playing in Byron Bay, New South Wales, with his brother when he was attacked 'out of the blue' and the python 'decided to wrap his mouth around his ankle and they both rolled into the pool'.
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"He was just walking around the edge [of the pool] and I believe the Python was sitting there waiting for a victim to come along... and Beau was it," Ben said.
"It was instant. I saw a big black shadow come out of the bush and before they hit the bottom [of the pool] it had completely wrapped around his leg."
Thankfully, Beau's grandfather didn't miss a beat when it came to jumping into the pool to rescue him.
His Grandfather, Allen, 76, saved him from downing before his dad, Ben, managed to get the snake off him.
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However, it was no mean feat getting the python off the child, and he explained that he had to wrestle with it for about 15 to 20 seconds before it finally let go of his son.
"I held onto [the Python] for probably 10 minutes whilst I was trying to calm my dad down, his partner down, and my two boys and then I released him," Ben revealed.
"It was somewhat of an ordeal."
Beau himself was described as an 'absolute trooper' who was relatively unfazed by the attack after he'd been cleaned up.
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His dad added: "Once we cleaned up the blood and told him he wasn't going to die... he was actually pretty good."
The five-year-old is now spending some time off school until it's been established that his bite from the animal is not infected.
As this story demonstrates, while pythons are one of the world's non-venomous snakes, this does not mean that they aren't dangerous.
Ben joked that the snake was even brazen enough to go back to the scene of the crime when he finally let it go.
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"He went back to the scene of the crime, the naughty thing," he said.
Pythons can typically be found in Asia, Africa and Australia.
This didn't go unnoticed by Ben, who admitted they're something of an expected hazard, saying: "Look... it is Australia."
Topics: News