PYTHON IN A TEMPER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17526, 22 July 1931, Page 11

PYTHON IN A TEMPER

) -of STRUGGLE WITH 12 MEN The latest attraction of Taronga Park, ; Sydney, is a 26ft. python, the largest ■ the zoo lias ever acquired. The new " arrival has aptly been nick-named "The s wild man fi'om Borneo." "It is the ■ savages* and most dangerous snake, we ; have ever handled," said a zoo official i the other day. The snake was brought from Borneo ' on the Nieuw Zecjand by Captain A. A. f C. Kroef. Twelve men, after a hard - struggle with its massive, slippery, ' writhing coils, managed to transfer it ' from the ship into a large box, in which » it was taken to the zoo. In the struggle the, python was slightly hurt and had to ho' taken out of the box again to ;! receive veterinary attention and held r until its injuries were dressed. ' The snake, in its struggles with the ' 12 men, worked itself into a blind fury, I and had to be quickly forced back into the box, where, an official said, "It is ' going to remain for a few days until it ' ! calms down. We are afraid to handle } it," he stated. ' Coiled in its box, the python went on ' a. hunger strike, and for some time rc- " fused to eat a rabbit dropped in for its *■ repast. Still, as the other zoo pythons II ! cat only once a week, the authorities 0 I were not alarmed at its voluntary fast.