Out in the wild, carnivores survive by eating other animals. But in rare and tragic instances, human beings can sometimes become a meal as well.
On Sunday (23 Oct) morning, 54-year-old Jahrah went to work at a rubber plantation in Indonesia. However, she did not return home.
The next day, a giant python with a bulge in its belly was found nearby.
When the snake was cut open, police discovered that it had swallowed Jahrah whole, with the woman’s body still largely intact.
The Washington Post reports that Jahrah’s husband reported her missing when she did not return home after a day of work as a rubber tapper in Jambi, Sumatra.
When he went out to search for her, he found her sandals, headscarf, jacket, and tools that she used for work.
According to The Guardian, he then called others for help.
The local police chief later revealed that a search party came across a 7-metre python somewhere on the plantation on Monday (24 Oct).
Source: Viral Press via The Telegraph on Yahoo News
It had an enlarged stomach, suggesting that it had recently eaten something quite big.
The snake, which measured a whopping 7 metres long, was suspected of preying on the missing woman.
Residents then speared the snake with a stick and hit its head to capture it.
Using knives and machetes, they split its belly open, reported The Telegraph via Yahoo News.
Source: @AsianDawn4 on Twitter
Inside, they found the body of a woman. She had been swallowed whole by the python and her body was still largely intact.
This indicated that the reptile had not had time to start digesting its meal.
CNN Indonesia reports that the victim was later identified as the missing woman, Jahrah.
No one had witnessed her being eaten by the python.
It’s believed that she had been snatched by the snake’s jaws and slowly suffocated to death.
Experts told The Washington Post that constrictors, like pythons, coil their bodies around their prey, giving it a “hug of death”.
The snakes can easily swallow things larger than the size of their head.
The chief of Jahrah’s village shared that the locals are now frightened as they suspect other equally large snakes reside in the surrounding forest.
While cases like this are relatively rare, this is not the first time pythons have eaten humans.
Back in 2018, a woman in Sulawesi was also killed and swallowed by a python.
Similar to Jahrah’s case, the snake was cut open and the victim’s body was found inside it.
There is speculation that the clearing of forests for palm oil cultivation has led to more encounters between pythons and humans.
Snake conservationist Nathan Rusli pointed out that when an animal’s natural habitat is destroyed, it might have no choice but to cross human settlements to travel to another part of the forest.
In addition, it’s possible that the snakes have become more hungry as they face more competition from humans for the same food prey.
Therefore, Mr Rusli urged the public to avoid ‘demonising’ the python too much.
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Featured image adapted from Viral Press via The Telegraph on Yahoo News and @AsianDawn4 on Twitter.
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