Missing Woman Discovered In Belly Of Enormous Python Snake
A python snake in Indonesia killed a grandmother and swallowed her whole, according to authorities.
File this under “ways you never want to die:” according to a report by LiveScience, an Indonesian woman was killed after she was swallowed whole by a giant python. The woman’s body was found last week after an extensive search, making the tragedy one of several recent disturbing incidents involving slithery creatures. The killer python measured over 22 feet long, dwarfing the size of a giant python recently found in the state of Florida.
The woman, a 54-year-old grandmother named Jahrah, was reported missing on October 23 by her family, after she failed to return home in her village in the province of Jambi on the island of Sumatra, the sixth-largest island in the world and home to dense jungles and a wide variety of wildlife. Her husband led a search party in the surrounding area, but she was not found the first night, although searchers did discover her sandals and some articles of her clothing, leading to fears she encountered one of the region’s dangerous animals.
The following day, searchers spotted the giant python near the spot where the sandals and clothing were found. When they realized it had a large stomach bulge, residents from the local village chased it down and killed it. The python snake was brought back to the village, where it was split open and a body was found inside, and was identified as the missing woman.
S Harefa, the local police chief in Jambi, confirmed the woman was indeed the victim.
We should note here that video of the python being killed and split open is available on Twitter, however, because of its graphic nature, we did not include it here. It is available if you search for it, although we strongly suggest you do not, as it is stomach-churning.
Pythons are common in Indonesia, with a number of varieties calling the island home. That includes green tree pythons, amethystine pythons, Sumatran short-tailed pythons, and reticulated pythons (the longest snake species in the world). In 2018, another Indonesian woman died when a python ate her.
However, despite their size and imposing look, it is very rare for a python to eat or even kill a human. Even the large reticulated pythons tend to hunt prey much smaller than them, usually civets, birds, pigs or a monkey, if they can catch one. They tend to avoid humans, because our shoulders are incredibly difficult for them to swallow.
Pythons are also an invasive species, and have flourished in Florida when people let them go in the wild. Every year, the state holds a roundup, paying people who bring in pythons they find in the Everglades. This past year, over 200 Burmese pythons were caught, which only makes a small dent in the population.
While python snakes are often the apex snake predator, that isn’t always the case. Recently, a Miami zoo discovered that a Florida cottonmouth had escaped its enclosure and entered a python enclosure, which then proceeded to eat it whole.
Despite their size, python snakes are especially agile and will find their way into homes. An Australian family made that chilling discovery when a giant python was found in their bathroom, which they believe entered through a dryer vent.
