"Woman Attacks Giant Snake"

View of Sai Kung Country Park

In Hong Kong, I live adjacent to the Sai Kung Country Park, which is about 4,500 hectares in extent. I have already written about it on this blog, but this entry refers to an astonishing phenomenon--Hong Kong wildlife. I term it astonishing because, just a 45-minute drive from the country park is Mong Kok, teeming with people.

In September 2007, Catherine Leonard was walking her two dogs in the country park. Suddenly, she heard Poppy, one of the dogs (a mongrel), yelping that sounded like “a scream”. She found that Poppy was being strangled by a 4.5 meter (15 foot) python. She kicked and punched the python, which slithered away. Poppy was injured but managed to survive (see photo). Catherine told the South China Morning Post “I wasn’t sure exactly what I did but I kicked it and I tried to pull Poppy free. The snake was twisted around her. . . It was all over in about a minute." Catherine said she was “shaken afterwards and really scared”.

The previous year, a large Husky dog was strangled and killed by a python in the same area. Burmese pythons can grow to a weight of 180kg (400 pounds) and a length of eight meters (18 feet).

I walk in the same area, often in the evenings, but have not come across pythons yet! I have encountered wild boar, barking dear, and cobras.

A few days after the incident was reported in Hong Kong, I was in Japan. The story was reported in a Japanese newspaper under the headline “Woman Attacks Giant Snake”, which is a lot more sensational than "Woman Rescues Dog from Python". Hence my title.