This week Australia Zoo released stunning footage showing the task force pulling a dog collar out of a python that swallowed it after mistaking it for prey.
According to Yahoo News, vets who were called in to remove the objects from its stomach saved the snake from surgery and were able to remove the object with an endoscope. They reported that she wore the collar on her stomach for a few days.
The snake that Pablo is calling ate the object in someone’s backyard. The trial was a success and she was released shortly after the trial.
“I’m sure Pablo is much more comfortable with it now. Luckily there were no dogs attached to the other end. And we just checked him every day and looked him in the mouth. There are just a few bruises. (…) And he even ate, which is a big step in the right direction,” said one of the vets.
An animal’s scent could be one of the factors that led the python to mistake an object for prey.
In 2021, a video went viral in Australia showing a carpet python found in a house swallowing a blanket after mistaking it for the family dog.
Watch more: The video, which shows a man putting the head of a large snake in his mouth, went around the world
The animal used the blanket to sleep and the snake associated the smell, eventually attacking the wrong target. Wildlife catcher Stuart McKenzie of the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers was the one who stumbled upon the scene and took to social media to explain what had happened.
He reported that the python had already swallowed half a meter of blanket when it impressively regurgitated the fabric. She was released into the wild to look for real prey.
This snake species is nonvenomous and can grow up to four meters in length, so it will feed on birds, mice, lizards, and mediumsized mammals like skunks and swallow them whole.
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