PHUKET — A six-metre-long, 80-kilogramme python — thought to be the largest found in Phuket in 10 years — was caught in Chalong Thursday.
While Sayan Thampan (second from left) holds the python's head, the family get a close-up look and pose for photos. (Phuket News photo)
The Phuket News reported that the snake was caught at around 1am by volunteers from the Ruamjai Kupai Foundation, who had received a call from the very nervous owner of a house in Moo Baan Maneeklam, who discovered the reptile in a store room next to the house.
Kupai snake expert Sayan Thampan and an assistant arrived and located the snake coiled up in a corner of the room.
Catching it was not easy; the store was large but the ceiling was very low - Mr Sayan and his helper found themselves trying to tackle the snake and drag it out while crawling themselves. They called for help.
Mr Sayan said, "This is the first time we have had to call for back-up to catch a snake. The room was huge, but with limited headroom, so it was difficult to pull this heavy python out.
"We have caught many big reptiles but nothing this big. This has to be the biggest snake caught in the past decade in Phuket."
Mr Sayan and his crew did eventually capture the snake and pulled it out of the store room. It was put in a large sack and taken to the forest to be released.