- Three men in South Africa wanted for force-feeding beer to a protected python
- Experts suggest that the beer probably burned the python’s internal tissues.
Yobs are being prosecuted in South Africa for animal cruelty after force-feeding Carling Black Label beer down the throat of a terrified python.
The gang grabbed the two-metre-long protected reptile while they were partying in the bush and forced open its mouth to pour beer down its throat.
Snake experts say the reptile’s organs would have no way of dealing with the alcohol and it would have burned its internal tissues and caused serious damage or death.
The 14-second clip shows two men holding the snake upright and a third man emptying an entire 750ml bottle of Canadian beer down the snake’s throat.
The crowd howls and laughs and one of the torturers appears ready to pour a second bottle down the python’s throat while it remains helpless in the air.
UK snake expert Michael Grover said on his reptile website that even a small amount of alcohol can be fatal, causing “disorientation and loss of coordination”.
He said: “If a snake drinks alcohol, it can be fatal as it is highly toxic to them and can cause serious damage to their liver and other organs, leading to organ failure and death.”
The angry National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) has uploaded the sickening video to its South African website and is appealing for information.
A spokesman said: “This is a threatened or protected species of African rock python that is effectively being tortured and we will apply the full force of the law.”
“The snake is being force-fed beer and it is clearly cruelty and is causing the python immense suffering and could well have caused it a painful death.
These drunken hooligans are being prosecuted in South Africa for animal cruelty after force-feeding Carling Black Label beer down the throat of a terrified python.
‘A full investigation is underway and any substantial information will be helpful as it is difficult to trace the perpetrators from an anonymous video posted online.
“The public outrage on social media is a complete testament to the fact that animal cruelty is not only not accepted in South Africa but will not be tolerated,” he said.
Anyone with information can call the NSPCA Special Projects Unit on +27 11 907 3590 or email specialprojects@nscpa.co.za and their identity will be fully protected.
Que Pasa wrote under the video on the NSPCA website: ‘How absolutely despicable. Let these people be treated by the harshest hand of the law. “This is absolutely heartbreaking.”
Louise Thompson said: “Absolutely heartbreaking.”
The NSPCA is the South African version of the RSPCA which is determined to track down the three men and is posting the horror video on websites across the country.
African rock pythons are known as TOPS (threatened or protected species) and can grow to more than 20 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds and kill by constraining their prey.
It means that they wrap their victims in their coils and every time the prey exhales they tighten a little until they run out of oxygen and usually die of cardiac arrest.
Non-venomous snakes can deliver a nasty bite if threatened and can swallow large antelopes and even crocodiles and, in rare cases, have been known to swallow humans.
A python killed by hunter KH Krof in South Africa in 1958 was 23 feet long and when it was cut open, a 5-foot Nile crocodile was found dead inside!
Sentences for killing pythons range from fines starting at £2,000 to two 9-year sentences for a local man who killed and skinned one and another who ate its meat to treat back pain.
