- Three men in South Africa sought for force-feeding lager to protected python
- Experts suggest the lager likely burned the python’s internal tissues
Yobs are being hunted in South Africa for animal cruelty after force-feeding Carling Black Label lager down the throat of a terrified python.
The gang had grabbed the protected six-foot-long reptile as they partied in the bush and forced open its jaws to pour beer down its throat.
Snake experts say that the reptile’s organs would have no way of dealing with alcohol and that it would have burned its internal tissues and caused severe damage or death.
The 14-second clip shows two men holding the snake upright and a third man emptying a whole 750ml bottle of the Canadian lager down the snake’s throat.
The crowd are baying and laughing and one of the tormentors looks poised to pour a second bottle down the python’s gullet as it is held helplessly up in the air.
These drunken yobs are being hunted in South Africa for animal cruelty after force-feeding Carling Black Label lager down the throat of a terrified python
UK snake expert Michael Grover said on his reptile website that even a tiny amount of alcohol can be deadly and it causes ‘disorientation and a loss of co-ordination’.
He said: ‘If a snake drinks alcohol it can be fatal as it is highly toxic to them and can cause severe damage to its liver and other organs leading to organ failure and death’.
The angry National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) has uploaded the sickening video onto its SA website and is appealing for information.
A spokesman said: ‘This is a threatened or protected species of African rock python being effectively tortured and we will bring the full force of the law into play.
‘The snake is being force fed with beer and it is clearly cruelty and it is causing the python immense suffering and it could very well have caused a painful death for it.
The boozers grabbed the protected six-foot-long reptile as they partied in the bush and prised open its jaws and poured a quart of beer into the stricken creature
‘A full investigation is underway and any substantial information will be of great help as it is difficult to trace perpetrators from an anonymous video posted online.
‘The public outrage on social media has born full testament to the fact that animal cruelty is not only not accepted in South Africa but also won’t be tolerated’ he said.
Anyone with any information can call the NSPCA Special Projects Unit at +27 11 907 3590 or email [email protected] and their identity will be fully protected.
Que Pasa wrote beneath the video on the NSPCA website: ‘How utterly despicable. May these people get dealt with by the heaviest hand of the law. This is absolutely heartbreaking’.
Louise Thompson said: ‘Absolutely heartbreaking’.
The NSPCA is the South African version of the RSPCA which is determined to track down the three men and are posting the video horror on websites across the country.
African Rock Pythons are known as TOPS – Threatened or Protected Species – and can grow to over 20 feet long and weigh over 200lbs and kill by constricting prey.
It means they wrap their coils round their victims and every time the prey breathes out it tightens a little until it has no oxygen left and usually dies of cardiac arrest.
The non-venomous snakes can give a nasty bite if threatened and can swallow large antelopes and even crocodiles and in rare cases have been known to swallow humans.
One python killed by hunter K H Krof in South Africa in 1958 was measured at 23 feet long and when it was opened up a 5 foot Nile Crocodile was found dead inside!
Sentences for killing-pythons vary from fines starting at £2000 to two 9-year sentences for a local man who killed and skinned one and another who eat its meat to treat back pain.
