Chilling discovery inside snake sparks warning to Aussies: 'Important to remember'
Australians have been served a chilling reminder about the brutality of nature, after a beloved family cat was swallowed whole by a hungry carpet python.
The upsetting situation unfolded on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland this week, with a snake-catching crew called out to a resident's home after a "confrontation" between a carpet python and the homeowner's cat turned ugly.
While these scenes are undeniably heartbreaking for the family, the attending crew from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers encouraged Australians to accept that the snake was merely trying to survive.
Such behaviours are a "natural instinct" for snakes, and as urban sprawl reduces their natural habitat, they are increasingly forced to source meals elsewhere, including on properties, they said. The team added that people should steer clear if they spot one.
"If you see a snake, keep a safe distance," Snake Catcher Stuart McKenzie earlier told Yahoo News. "You can give it a chance to move on itself if it's outside. Obviously, if it's inside, you definitely need a professional to come and relocate it."
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On Thursday, there was little the team could do to save the cat from its untimely fate. "Our crew arrived when it was just starting to swallow the cat, and offered to interfere and remove the cat so the homeowner had the chance to bury it," Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers shared.
In an incredible act of selflessness, the homeowners allowed the snake to continue eating their pet as it was "too late to save it".
"They didn't want their cat to die for nothing," the online post continued. "In this situation, it is easy to get angry at the snake, but it's important for us all to remember that this is natural and instinctual.
"Neither animals are at fault. The cat was well and truly deceased before the snake started swallowing it simply from the constriction pressure, so there was nothing we could have done."
The grisly scenario prompted a warning to all Australians to "always try your best to snake proof your pet enclosures" and "supervise when possible" if they are outside.
The snake catchers added that they shared the tragic story in an attempt to raise awareness and remind pet owners that "this can happen".
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