Lucky Beau Blake was rescued as he was about to be swallowed by a hungry 10ft python. He was enjoying a swim at home in Byron Bay, New South Wales on Thursday, Nov. 24, when the python struck.
The python which was about three times the boy’s size bit and dragged him into a swimming pool.
Fortunately, Beau would be freed after a dramatic rescue effort by his 76-year-old grandfather Allan, who pulled the boy from the pool before dad Ben prised the snake off his son’s leg.
Father of Blake, Ben recalls:
“Beau was just walking around the edge of the pool… and I believe the python was sort of sitting there waiting for a victim to come along… and Beau was it,”
“I saw a big black shadow come out of the bush and before they hit the bottom, it was completely wrapped around his leg…
“Once we cleaned up the blood and told him that he wasn’t going to die because it wasn’t a poisonous snake… he was pretty good actually.”
Ben said his father Allan had jumped into the pool “with no self-preservation whatsoever”. “I’m not a little lad… [so] I had him released within 15-20 seconds,” he added.
Ben held on to the python for about 10 minutes as he desperately tried to calm his children and his father, before releasing the reptile back into the vegetation.
