The eight-week-old tabby's skull is three times the size of the python's head yet the snake was found with a "'bulging belly" at the McLaren family's home in Tiwi in Darwin's northern suburbs yesterday. Three other kittens from the same litter and five adult cats were looking on curiously.
Cat owner Asha McLaren said her 14-year-old daughter Taara had gone out to feed their pets about 7am when she made the grisly find. "It wasn't a very nice feeling to think that this happened in our backyard," she said. My daughter went out to feed the cats and they normally all come running at the sound of the dish, but Kohl was missing."
"She then looked around and saw the snake. She called out to me, saying there was a big snake and that she thought it had eaten Kohl. When I went out I couldn't believe it. It had a bulging belly and when we couldn't find Kohl anywhere it was obvious he'd been eaten. It was very sad as he was my favourite. He was grey with black stripes and was just gorgeous."
Snake catcher Gordon Canning was called out to collect the python. He said it was unusual for a python to target a cat, but the kitten did not have a chance up against the slithering reptile.
He said pythons usually strike at their prey and squeeze it to death before devouring it whole. "The cat would have been suffocated within minutes," he said.
There are more photos here.
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