The fifth recorded killing of a human by a python since 2017 took place Thursday when a woman from a central Indonesian village was killed.
According to CBS, the incident took place in Kalempang village in central Indonesia and involved a 16-foot-long python.
The woman who was killed was a mother of four children whose first name was given as Farida, according to an Agence France Presse report posted by Barron’s.
She was reported missing Thursday night when she did not return home as planned, village head Suardi Rosi said.
Her husband “found her belongings … which made him suspicious. The villagers then searched the area. They soon spotted a python with a large belly,” said Suardi,
“They agreed to cut open the python’s stomach. As soon as they did, Farida’s head was immediately visible,” he said.
Farida was found fully clothed inside the body of the snake.
According to a report in the Metro, the python had bitten her leg and suffocated her before swallowing her head first.
The report in the Metro quoted the woman’s husband, Noni, as saying he felt responsible for his wife’s fate.
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“I am forever sorry that I let my wife go out alone. If I had been with her that day, the snake would not have dared to touch her,” he said.
“I feel sorry for the suffering she went through. I am sorry for our family,” he said.
Rosi said that finding the snake took several searchers.
“He found a snake with a large stomach. He immediately suspected that his wife had been eaten by the python. Several other villages then helped him to catch the python. The body of his wife was found in the stomach of a snake. She was taken away to his house before being buried,” he said.
CBS noted that reticulated pythons grab their prey with dozens of teeth to hold it in place, squeeze it to death and swallow it whole.
It noted that past fatal python attacks took place in 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023.
Zoo Atlanta, which has the snakes, said that “while reticulated pythons have a reputation for being aggressive, they generally do not display aggression when handled regularly in zoological settings.”
“Despite heavy hunting pressures for the commercial skin trade, on top of opportunistic persecution by humans, this species manages to maintain relatively large populations even in heavily populated areas,” the zoo said.
