What do you do when you see a 26 foot python? After the inevitable fearful freezing for a second, I must admit that I would probably be running for all I was worth.
Not so for local security guard Robert Nababan in Indonesia.
Mr Nababan, 37 years old, noticed the giant reptile in a palm oil plantation road in Sumatra's Batang Gansal district.
The snake attacked him and man and giant snake fougth until Mr Nababan managed to kill the animal, admittedly with the help of several villagers. Mr Nababan suffered some serious injuries.
The python was hung up for display in the village, chopped up into pieces, fried in soy oil and eaten.
Mr Nababan: "I tried to catch it, my hand was bitten, and I managed to wrestle it."
He is recovering in a hospital in Pekanbaru city and his family has brought him some of the snake to eat.
Giant pythons are quite common in this remote area in Sumatra.
A police official, Mr Elinaryon, head of the Batang Gansal district government: "There are at least 10 sightings of them a year. In the dry season they come out looking for a drink, in the wet they come out to take a bath in the rain. There are usually lots of mice in the palm oil plantations and that's what they are hunting.”
The official did state that it was normally not advised to go anywhere near the snakes: "You really shouldn't try to do that… of course the snake, if you try and kill it, is going to get really angry and that's when it fights back!"
According to Mr Elinaryon, it is normal that the villagers ate the python afterwards: "I have heard from friends that they are really tasty. I mean it's a 7m snake - that's a lot of meat. The blood, some people believe, has healing qualities and can be used in medicine."
Source:
I once ate snake. Not too bad.