- 8
Sunday, July 1, 1973
ELUSIVE PYTHON CAUGHT
Pest control officers have finally captured a 20-pound Indian
male python which had somehow canaged to elude every trap laid for it
for nearly a month.
And during the course of the affair, the eight-foot long reptile
twice became unfriendly, inflicting minor injuries on a snake expert from
the Urban Services Department.
The drama unfolded early last month when the python was first
spotted at a construction site near the Tai Po Tau pumping station of
the Waterworks Office.
Workers immediately launched a concerted effort to catch it, but
the python vanished into the pumping station only to reappear a few days
later (June 7) on top of a pipe inside a sump in the pumping station.
The U.S.D. snake disposal unit was notified and a group of volunteers
raced to the, rescue. However, it wasn't to be so easy.
t
One of the experts, Mr. Wong Kar-ning, climbed down into the sump
and tried to reach for the python. The python, which is not poisonous
responded by scratching Mr. Wong on the forehead and promptly scurried off
into the water at the bottom of the sump.
It did not reappear for several days. Summoned to the scene,
Mr. Wong repented his attempt to capture the slippery reptile
this time
wearing a rubber glove for protection.
/Undaunted,