Terengganu APM catches six-metre python

KUALA NERUS - The Terengganu Civil Defence Force (APM) has captured a six-metre-long reticulated python, weighing about 120 kilogrammes (kg), in a village canal in Kampung Gong Awang Lib in Mengabang Telipot, near here, last night.

Kuala Terengganu/Kuala Nerus APM officer, Second Lieutenant Norulhaida Md Rashid, said that the team received a call about the reptile discovery at 8.30 last night before eight members rushed to the scene.

"The snake was found by villagers in a canal near the road. Our members had difficulty catching it. Apart from its large size and length, it also acted aggressively. It took us about 30 minutes to capture the snake,” she said when met at the scene.

Norulhaida said that the snake was brought to the Kuala Terengganu/Kuala Nerus APM Centre to be kept, before handing it over to the state Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan).

Meanwhile, a resident who spotted the snake, Mohd Fazrie Mohamad Fauzi, 35, said that he believed that with the capture of the python, the problem of losing several cows belonging to farmers in the village would be solved.

"Yesterday I noticed that one of my cows was missing so I went out to look around the area, until I saw the python in the canal. Last month, a cow belonging to a villager also went missing. I believe it was eaten by the same snake.

"Thankfully the snake was caught today because the location where it was discovered was also close to the residential area and children fish in this canal sometimes,” said a 35-year-old mechanic. - BERNAMA