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Simon Parry

An expatriate businessman, who helped catch a 4.3 metre-long ­python that attacked him as he walked his dogs, yesterday appealed for the snake to be spared.
The female python was taken to an animal hospital at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden but in view of public safety concern will not be set free.
It was caught after Karl Davies returned to the scene of Monday’s attack – a walking trail near Sai Kung – with local snake catcher Dave Willott.
 
The python, nicknamed Kaa by Davies and Willott after the Jungle Book character, is believed to be responsible for a string of fatal attacks on dogs in recent years at the Pak Tam Chung trail.
Father-of-two Davies spent six hours in hospital after the python ambushed him, biting his leg and slashing his fingers as he tried to prise its jaws off him.


Video copyright Simon Parry, Red Door News
He returned to the scene with Willott on Wednesday and helped capture the snake. A video of the dramatic capture had been shared more than 120,000 times on Facebook by yesterday.
Davies, 49, said he was monitoring the snake’s progress.“I hope they keep her. I don’t want her to become an unfortunate casualty. She was only doing what she does by nature,” he said.
Willott, 50, said the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department should keep the snake alive as she could be used in conservation education.
“Every effort should be made not to euthanise her,” he said.
“Sometimes it takes time for a snake to adapt to its new environment, but I hope they don’t give up on her.”
WATCH: How Briton helped catch pet-eating Hong Kong python that attacked him
Willott hopes the high-profile capture will lead to a rethink of ­relocating snakes – often unnecessarily – when they come into contact with humans.
Before 2010, captured pythons were sent to a wildlife park on the mainland but they are now ­usually released back into the wild. “Studies show snakes often do not survive when they are relocated so ideally they should be left where they are,” he said.
Snake catchers of Hong Kong: meet the fearless reptile handlers who are saving snakes from a grisly end in a soup dinner
“When snakes come into conflict with humans it is always the snake that loses out. People need to be educated. There should be places where snakes and other animals can be left alone.”
A department spokesman confirmed the python was being kept at Kadoorie Farm and ­Botanic Garden and would not be released into the wild.
The farm would decide whether the snake was suitable to be kept in captivity there or ar any other facility.
“We have no plan to euthanise it so far,” he said.


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Hong Kong snake encounters

Expat mauled by python pleads for it to be spared

Snake catcher Dave Willott with the captured Burmese Python that attacked Karl Davies on June 13, 2016 on a family walk in Pak Tam Chung. Photo: Simon Parry

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Hong Kong

Health & Environment