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BRISBANE - A five-metre python stalked a family's dog for days before swallowing the pet whole in front of horrified children.
Even the children themselves were at risk from the reptile in the family's north Queensland home, says a snake expert.
The boy and girl, aged five and seven, watched as the scrub python devoured their silky terrier-chihuahua cross at the home near Kuranda, north-west of Cairns, on Monday night.
"Actually watching it unfold before your eyes was pretty gut-wrenching," their father Daniel Peric told the Cairns Post newspaper.
"We'd had the dog about five years, so it was part of the family."
But the incident was not the first, he said.
The body of their cat had been found in the preceding weeks, looking as if something had tried to swallow it.
And on Sunday, a smaller python ate their pet guinea pig.
"We have ducted air-conditioning," Mr Peric said.
"Call it paranoia, but my big fear is that a snake will get in there."
Stuart Douglas, owner of the Australian Venom Zoo in Kuranda, said scrub pythons usually ate wallabies but turned to pets in urban areas.
"It actively stalked the dog for a number of days," Mr Douglas told AAP.
"The family that owned the dog had actually seen it in the dog's bed, which was a sign it was out to get it.
"They should have called me then but it got away and three or four days later I was called and went around and removed it."
By the time he arrived, all that could be seen of the dog was its back legs and tail.
Mr Douglas said scrub pythons grew up to eight metres in length and lived in north Queensland rainforests.
There was documentary evidence they could break a man's arm or strangle an adult to death, he said.
Mr Douglas said he had made several calls to the Peric house to remove snakes which hunted their pets.
Mr Peric's fears for his children were well founded, he said.
"A snake of that size is quite capable of killing a small child," Mr Douglas said.
The snake was today digesting the dog at Australian Venom Zoo and would soon be relocated to the bush.
- AAP
