Thaindian News

Melbourne, Feb 25 (ANI): A famished 5m amethyst python in far north Queensland is said to have devoured a 35kg goat, horns and all.

The goat had been missing from the Kuranda property bordering rainforest for three weeks when its owner stumbled on the enormous reptile, with a suspiciously large bump in its stomach.

According to the Cairns Post, the python had swallowed the pet goat and spent the next three days digesting its meal before it disappeared.

Neighbour Yuri Hagedorn kept a careful watch over the reptile and even put a corrugated iron shelter over it, saying that the snake had been a regular visitor to the street.

“This particular python, I think because it’s territorial, has been in the area for quite a while,” the Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying.

“It eats mainly wallabies, and wallabies are as big as a goat,” he said.

Surviving goats from the woman’s yard have since been donated to Kuranda’s Uncle Pete’s Petting Zoo.

Queensland Museum reptile curator Patrick Couper said amethyst pythons, also known as scrub pythons, were not shy about eating large prey.

“Large amethyst pythons will certainly eat tree kangaroos, they’ll certainly eat wallabies,” Couper said.

“I’ve often seen photographs of large amethystines with bulky items in their gut like that.

“I believe they also take roadkill,” he added.

Stuart Douglas, from the Australian Venom Zoo, said scrub pythons were known to eat pets at Kuranda. (ANI)