14 DAY TRIAL // When an Australian Terrier owner woke up in the morning and found that her darling Bindi wasn't around the kitchen, she knew that something was wrong, so she went on to look for the small dog. Owner Patty Buntine scouted throughout the house and in the yard, but found no sign of the canine. However, she did come across a 10-foot-long, olive python, which was unable to move, and had a very large bulge on its body, as if it had just eaten a very large coconut. However, the sad truth was that the coconut was in fact Bindi, and Patty knew this right away.
A professional snake catcher that she called immediately confirmed upon weighing the snake that the animal had, indeed, ingested something as heavy as 14 pounds, which was roughly the weight of the former Pet Terrier. The snake weighed in at 35 pounds, a huge increase from its average weight, of 21 pounds. The verdict was ominous – Bindi had found its end at the fangs of the python. Still, the question remains how such a large dog could remain oblivious to the sounds of a snake treading happily towards it.
The occurrence took place in the city of Katherine, in Australia's northern territory, an area where such incidents are not at all uncommon. However, thus far, snakes have only consumed smaller pets, such as new-born puppies, rats, mice, cats, and other such creatures. But 15 pounds of prey is something even larger ones stay away from. The snake catcher said that, most likely, the dog had been first paralyzed by a well-aimed bite, as it probably investigated the strange snake curiously.
The python then had enough time to start eating it, which was probably a very difficult task, even though this type of snakes is renowned for being able to eat about 60 percent of its body mass. “It is really amazing. It's equivalent to a 220lb man eating a 132lb steak,” David Reed, the snake catcher, says. He reckons that the animal will be released back into the wild once it finishes digesting Bindi, but in an area far away from households and small animals.
“She didn't show up for her routine breakfast at 7am and because she was always there I got worried and went to look for her. I went around the side of the house and that's when I found the snake. It couldn't move and had its head up in a striking position. Its belly was bulging – it looked like a great big coconut was inside it. I knew straight away that it had ate Bindi. I felt terrible – it's not very nice at all to think my little dog went that way,” Ms Buntine tells the Sunday Territorian newspaper.