Grandmother Goes to Work, Gets Eaten by Giant Python

A tree tapper at an Indonesian rubber plantation was swallowed whole by a 22-foot-long python on Sunday.

Jahrah, 54, went to work that morning as usual near the village of Betara in Indonesia’s Jambi province, located on Sumatra Island. Her husband grew concerned when she didn’t return to her family that afternoon, according to a report from the BBC. A search party was called after the husband found his wife’s headscarf, jacket, and sandals. The search party soon located one sated and very bloated python.

“During the search the team found a giant python, measuring seven meters [22 feet] in length, which we suspected had preyed on the victim,” Betara Jambi police chief AKP S Harefa said in a statement to local media outlets.

They python was killed and sliced open, revealing the intact remains of the woman.

“The victim’s body was not destroyed when we found her inside the snake, meaning that she had only been recently swallowed whole,” Harefa concluded.

While extremely rare, two similar deaths by pythons in Indonesia were reported in 2017 and 2018. Mary-Ruth Low, conservation & research officer for Wildlife Reserves Singapore, told the BBC young pythons usually dine on rats and other small animals, but look for larger prey as they grow older and larger.

“In essence, they can go as large as their prey goes,” said Mary-Ruth Low, conservation & research officer for Wildlife Reserves Singapore, told the BBC.

She said it was not uncommon for pythons to eat animals as large as a cow.

Pythons typically squeeze their prey to death, then swallow the deceased body whole.