Python eats family dog in front of children

By Nick Squires in Sydney
Last Updated: 12:00pm GMT 27/02/2008

An Australian family whose pet guinea pig, cat and dog were eaten by giant pythons menacing their tropical home fears their children could be next on the predators' menu.

The Peric family watched in horror this week as their much-loved Chihuahua was swallowed by a 16.5 ft long scrub python on the verandah of their home in Kuranda, Queensland.

Despite hurling chairs at the snake, it was undeterred and they were unable to save the family pet.

"Actually watching it unfold before your eyes was pretty gut-wrenching," Daniel Peric told the Cairns Post yesterday. "We'd had the dog about five years, so it was part of the family."

A pet guinea pig and a cat had fallen victim to snakes in recent weeks and he said he was now worried about his two young children, Ethan, 5, and Talia, 7, who witnessed the python eat their pet dog.

"We have ducted air-conditioning. Call it paranoia, but my big fear is that a snake will get in there," said Mr Peric.

He was scared to leave his children alone in the house. "When it happens once, you think it's a one-off, but last night I thought 'this is serious'".

The Perics called a local snake expert, Stuart Douglas, to try to save their dog but by the time he arrived it had been all but swallowed, with only its back legs and tail protruding from the python's mouth.

Mr Douglas, a snake handler at the Australian Venom Zoo in Kuranda, near Cairns, took the python away. He believed it had stalked the Chihuahua over a period of several days.

"It only took about 30 minutes to eat the dog, but it will be digesting it for two days," he said.
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It would then be released into a national park; there was no question of killing it.

Scrub pythons, which can grow up to 24ft in length, live in the rainforests of northern Queensland and usually prey on wild turkeys, fruit bats and wallabies.

But towns like Cairns are expanding fast and as homes are built on the rainforest fringe, the snakes inevitably come into contact with domestic pets.

"These pythons used to feed on wallabies but now they feed on cats and dogs in suburbia," said Mr Douglas.

He said Mr Peric's fears for his children were well founded. "A snake of that size is quite capable of killing a small child."
Python eats dog
Despite throwing chairs at the beast the family couldn't save the dog, seen here as a bulge in the giant snake's digestive tract (left)

Fact file - scrub pythons

Scrub pythons [Morelia kinghorni] are Australia's largest snake, growing up to 24 ft long, although on average they are around 10ft.

Found in northern Queensland and New Guinea, they live in a variety of habitats, from rainforest to open savannah woodland, gorges, swamps and coral cays.

They are mainly nocturnal and good tree climbers They have an unpredictable temperament and because of their size can inflict a painful bite.

Officials in Kenton County are investigating a horrific case in which a 3-year-old girl was taken to the hospital, beaten and intoxicated.

If you want to avoid an afterlife of hellfire and damnation you will now have to do more than obey the Ten Commandments.

The Vatican has extended its list of mortal sins to include 21st century issues such as genetic experimentation, pollution, social injustice, drug abuse and excessive wealth.

Published in the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano the extended list was revealed at the end of a week long refresher course for priests on the sacrament of confession.

According to the Roman Catholic faith a mortal sin must be confessed to a priest and if not absolved or forgiven, will lead to a person's soul being condemned to Hell after death.

Traditionally mortal sins are those which are a breach of the Commandments - murder, adultery, stealing and lying to name but a few.

The new sins were revealed by Gianfranco Girotti, bishop in charge of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican Department which deals with the forgiveness of sins.

Monsignor Girotti, 70, said: ''The reference for sin is the violation of Man's relationship with God and his fellow Man.

''Today there are various new sins which concern the rights of the individual and society and above all these are in the field of bioethics.

''Within this there are several fundamental violations of nature taking place - experiments, genetic manipulation, which are very difficult to control.

''Socially there is the field of drugs which weaken both intelligence and physically, leaving many youngsters outside the ecclesiastical (church) circuit.

''Then elsewhere socially we have inequality of wealth with the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer, this in turns feeds an ever growing social injustice.''

Monsignor Girotti led the confession refresher corse because surveys had revealed that the number of people going was declining.

Many said they felt that they ''found it difficult to talk'' to priests about their sin with some saying they feared a severe reprimand.

Monsignor Girotti said the aim of the course had been to teach priests to be less aggressive and more understanding in the confessional box.

No they don't make the decision, they are the intermediary between you and God.

Federal authorities are investigating alleged misconduct and civil rights violations by the Highway Patrol shown in videos in which state troopers used racial slurs, threatened to kill a suspect and — most recently — struck suspects fleeing on foot with their patrol cars.

The Criminal Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina and the FBI are investigating the allegations, a Justice Department spokesman told The State newspaper Wednesday.

That news came as the Department of Public Safety released three more videos involving misconduct by troopers.