Incredible photos after Aussie man 'untangles' huge python from backyard prey
Western Australian man Rodney Fischer lives in the remote region of East Kimberley and was called to his friend's house when she noticed the intruder amongst her hens.
"She rang up about 7.30 at night and said, 'A snake's got me chook'," he recalled to Yahoo News on Sunday.
About five minutes away, Rodney raced to the scene to find the snake wrapped around the bird.
The pythons are non venomous but instead constrict their prey, with Rodney explaining it would happily gorge on a chicken. "They'll swallow a chicken, especially a snake that size, it was around two metres long, so no problem for a python that big," he said.
The python was still wrapped around the chicken when he arrived on the property, "and the chicken was still alive".
"So I untangled it and got the snake off ... took it home and went and released it the next day," he told Yahoo.
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As for the chook, it managed to pull through the ordeal and live to fight another day. "My friend sent me a picture of the chook and it survived," he added.
The homeowner had lost chickens to snakes before, which can often get into the enclosure but become stuck and unable to get back out once they have a large chicken in their belly.
The avid photographer and videographer travels throughout the Kimberly in the north of WA, usually with his dingo Bob, taking photos of the region's unique nature – capturing everything from huge crocs to the threatened Gouldian finch.
The Olive python is endemic to Australia and only found in the very northern parts of the country, with Rodney saying it's one of the most common species he happens to come across.
Earlier this year a cattle farmer in the Northern Territory described the "horribly amazing" discovery that a two-metre Olive python had eaten her shirt and bra before later regurgitating them up again in her laundry. "It was quite slimy and certainly needed a very good soak, but it all came back out in one piece," she told the ABC in February.
According to experts, the snakes can be attracted to items that smell like potential food, such as those worn by people who work with animals.
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