'Punched it in the head': Boy, 4, snatched by huge python at family home
A father’s parental instincts kicked in just in time when a massive python latched onto his son and tried to pull him into the bushes.
Evan Thompson explained he was with his family and friends at their new home in Airlie Beach by the pool about to head inside when he heard screaming.
A scrub python had latched on to his four-year-old son Clifford’s leg and was pulling him into the bush, 7 News reported.
“At that stage, he was holding onto the side of the boardwalk and it was just pulling him into the bush,” Mr Thompson said.
“I knew I had to do something so I ran straight up and punched it straight in the head.”
After punching it in the head, the snake released Clifford but only momentarily as it then struck the boy again in the leg.
Knowing he had to try something else, Mr Thompson grabbed the snake by the jaw and bent it back with as much force as he could.
The snake’s head “popped off”, according to Mr Thompson and Clifford was able to run.
However, the snake kept trying to get Clifford along the boardwalk.
“I had to run around, grab it on the tail and just pull this thing away from Clifford as it was constantly trying to get back at him,” Mr Thompson said, explaining it was then he called out for help.
One of Mr Thompson’s friends rushed to his aid and killed the snake.
Mr Thompson estimates the snake to be about five metres long and says he has never come across a snake that aggressive.
Clifford is recovering from deep lacerations on his leg in Mackay hospital, according to 7News.
When snakes attack
Even if you are pretty sure you were bitten by a non-venomous snake, it is still best to treat the bite as a ‘medical emergency’, according to Health Direct.
Health Direct recommends calling an ambulance and applying pressure to the wound.
This latest incident involving little Clifford follows a similar attack on a snake catcher.
In October last year an experienced snake catcher was almost strangled to death by a python in Queensland.
“When I grabbed the snake out of the tree it landed around my neck [and] before I could unwind the snake from my neck it tightened around my neck and face,” Sue Ambler, a snake catcher from Mission Beach, said at the time.
The client who called her about the snake witnessed the horrific scene and rang an ambulance after she had passed out.
“Even though pythons are non-venomous they are dangerous too so please don’t handle snakes by yourself,” she wrote on Facebook after the attack, recommending people call a snake catcher.
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