With snakes being virtually a part of everyday life, local wisdom is abound on how snakes should be handled and treated; For big pythons and the like, at least two people (one at each end) are needed to effectively control a beast of this size and bone crushing strength. Once captured the snake is then 'neutralized' by force feeding it meat. requiring two more people - One to open the mouth, one to shove the raw meat down the neck. this makes the snake lose the instinct to crush potential victims. This done, the snake is then dumped in an empty rice sack, tail first. Only then is it safe to start transporting the snake to somewhere else for release. This particular story involves a giant yellow python that had made its way into a rural neigbourhood and had subsequently been captured by local residents. They did not feed

One of the villagers took on the responsibility of finding a new home for the 3 meter reptile and decided he would transport it alone by motorcycle, without putting the snake in a sack, without anyone's help and without feeding it first.

The pictures in the local newspapers showed an unconcious man in a pool of blood, lying next to his fallen motorcycle while people attempted to pull the snake off from around his body and neck.

Our victim does not get a Darwin award because he miraculously lived, allbeit with crushed ribs and permanent brain damage from having the blood cut off from his brain. That's surely enough for an honourable mention though.

Submitted on 12/29/2003

Submitted by: Nick Davies
Reference: Thai newspapers December 2003

Copyright © 2003 DarwinAwards.com

Jack said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
This may be an update of the "Snake Alert" story we got a week or so back. I must admit that anyone who would attempt to transport a large (3 meters?!?), presumably hungry, python without putting it in a sack is definitely a contender.

Charles said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
This looks to be the same story as we saw earlier, but with sufficient detail that it is worthy of retention.

Daniel said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
I also think I've seen this one before, but this is a much better write-up, and the stupidity is definitely Darwinian.

Greg said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
I know many people have pet snakes, and injuries like this happen occasionally. Marginal.

Darwin said:
Definitely Toss: Lacks Excellence
Thanks for the snake story but... heard it before, Nick!