A three-metre-long Python snake emerged from a bush near the Blake family’s pool (file photo)
(Picture: Image by Silvia from Pixabay )A five-year-old boy in Australia has survived after being bitten by a three-metre-long Python snake and dragged into a pool.
Beau Blake had to be rescued by his 76-year-old grandfather Allan after the terrifying attack at the family’s home in Byron Bay, New South Wales, before his father Ben separated him from the snake.
Beau was swimming with his brother and “just out of the blue” the Python “decided to wrap his mouth around his ankle and they both rolled into the pool”, Ben Blake told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
“He was just walking around the edge [of the pool] and I believe the Python was sitting there waiting for a victim to come along...and Beau was it.
“It was instant. I saw a big black shadow come out of the bush and before they hit the bottom [of the pool] it had completely wrapped around his leg.”
That’s when Allan Blake jumped into the pool and took Beau to his father.
Ben described how it took him around 15 to 20 seconds to separate the snake from his son’s ankle, all the while trying to calm down Allan.
“I held onto [the Python] for probably 10 minutes whilst I was trying to calm my dad down, his partner down, and my two boys and then I released him.
“It was somewhat of an ordeal.”
Despite the alarming incident, Ben said his young son was “an absolute trooper”.
“Once we cleaned up the blood and told him he wasn’t going to die... he was actually pretty good.”
Beau has been kept home from school while his parents monitor the snake bite for infection.
Python snakes are often found in Australia, Africa and Asia.
Australian pythons regularly exceed three metres. Despite their large size, some of these species survive in urban and suburban areas. Prey is captured by striking and biting, usually followed by constriction.
Last year a two-and-a-half-foot Python surprised swimmers at Hampstead Heath in north west London.
The snake was spotted by the entrance to Parliament Hill Lido. Rangers took 30 minutes to carefully place the snake into a net and remove it from the park in a carrier box.
