An Australian father of two is being called a hero after saving a family’s new puppy from an 8-foot-long python during his vacation.
Stewart Brasier, who is from Melbourne, Australia, was visiting an Airbnb in Queensland for a trip. Brasier said as soon as he sat down to relax and drink a beer on Monday afternoon, he heard a loud commotion outside.
Brasier ran over to the backyard fence. When he looked over, he saw the neighbors’ two young daughters screaming at an 8-foot-long python that was strangling their Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy named Panda.
The children’s mother was already on the phone with Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers by the time Brasier hopped the fence to help. He told a local newspaper that he found the snake wrapped around the puppy’s back legs and neck with its mouth around the puppy’s head.
In a Facebook statement, Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers said that Brasier was able to uncoil the large Carpet python from the puppy.
Carpet pythons are non-venomous and can be found anywhere in Australia except Tasmania. The Queensland Department of Environment and Science recommends looking out for the pythons on the roof of houses and sheds, as well as hollow trees and branches.
Carpet pythons are known to suffocate their prey by constricting it and then eating it whole. The snakes typically feed on smaller animals including birds, possums, and rats.
“There was no way that a snake catcher could get there in time,” Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers’ Stuart McKenzie wrote in a Facebook post. “So I had to talk her and the neighbor through how to get the snake off the dog as quickly and safely as possible.”
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The post explained that they were able to unwind the snake from the puppy’s body and separate the two. Neither the puppy nor the snake was harmed.
“In the end they did a great job getting the snake off the dog uninjured and the dog got away with a few small cuts and lacerations,” McKenzie wrote.
McKenzie said that he and a few others headed out to the house and were able to relocate the snake in bushland away from the house.
“Please don’t hate the snake for this, it was simply looking for food. This post is to create awareness around the fact that this sort of incident can happen, not all that often but it certainly can happen.”
Newsweek reached out to Stewart Brasier and Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers for comment.