Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Oct 10: A ten-year-boy who was bitten by a python showed exemplary courage without getting shaken by the attack, by kicking and scaring the predator away. This incident which speaks volumes about the boy's courage and resilience, happened in the city on Wednesday.

The boy who escaped from the predator has been identified as Sankalp G Pai (10), son of B Gopalakrishna Pai staying near Mannagudda. Sankalp is a fifth standard student of Canara School Urwa. The incident happened on Wednesday when he was walking towards a temple near his house to attend the evening puja.

A python that was stealthily waiting in the courtyard of the boy's house emerged from the pipeline of the drain water suddenly and attacked Sankalp and bit him in the right leg. As there was darkness around, the python had not been visible to the boy. The boy immediately kicked its hood with the other leg, at which the python returned to the pipe and hid there. The boy ran home, shouting about the presence of the serpent at which people from the neighbourhood assembled there.

His father, who was away, rushed home and took the boy to the hospital. The doctors there advised the boy to be shifted to another hospital as they could not ascertain whether the reptile was poisonous or not. Thereafter, a doctor from Chilimbi treated him.

By then the people called a snake catcher. He forced the python to come out by directing smoke into the pipeline at which the python came out. Then it was confirmed that it was a python bite. The python was then taken to Pilikula Nisargadhama.

The boy's father said that the boy has not yet fully recovered from the shock and he now attends afternoon puja at the Math instead of evening. He is recovering as the wound is healing, he stated. He added that a python had been noticed in the courtyard of his house two weeks back and it was taken to Pilikula Nisargadhama by the snake catcher. He recollected that two cats in his residence had suddenly gone missing and suspected that the python would have devoured them. The python, which was about nine feet long, would have returned to check for more cats, he feels.