Aussie boy bitten, dragged into pool by huge python at home
A dad has recalled how a three-metre python lunged at his five-year-old son before dragging him into the family’s swimming pool.
Ben Black believes the reptile was “lurking” in the garden of the Byron Bay home on Thursday, just “waiting for a victim to come along". But instead of a bird, the snake sunk its teeth into little Beau.
“He [Beau] was swimming with his brother yesterday and just out of the blue a three-metre python decided to wrap his mouth around his ankle and they both rolled into the pool,” Mr Black told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
“It was instant. I saw a big black shadow come out of the bush and before they hit the bottom it was completely wrapped around his leg and my father, who is 76, jumped into the pool.”
Before Mr Black even had a chance to contemplate getting into the water, his dad was passing up Beau, with the python still attached.
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Within 20 seconds, he had “separated the two”, releasing the snake from his son’s leg.
Describing the incident as “somewhat of an ordeal", Mr Black says his son has bounced back quickly.
“He’s an absolute trooper,” the dad said. “Once we cleaned up the blood and told him he wasn’t going to die because it wasn’t a poisonous snake, he was pretty good.”
With the wound still fresh, Beau has been kept off school this week to prevent any chance of infection and to keep the cut clean.
Meanwhile the python, who Mr Black says he held on to for 10 minutes while he tried to calm down both of his sons, father and father’s partner, has been released back into the wild.
He added that while snakes were common around his home on the NSW north coast, a big python hiding in the bushes isn’t a frequent occurrence.
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