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WATCH: 3-metre ‘naughty snake’ drags 5-year-old boy into pool
The boy, father and grandfather took the incident in their stride and released the 'naughty snake back to the scene of the crime'.
Photo: Ben Blake
Beau Blake, a five-year-old boy from Byron Bay in Australia, had a close encounter with a snake while playing near the edge of a swimming pool.
As regaled to reporters, Beau’s father said he believed the “python was sitting there waiting for a victim to come along, a bird or something, and Beau was it”.
Snake drags boy into pool
Beau was swimming with his brother when the three-metre python sunk his fangs into the boy’s ankle, right on the Achilles tendon.
And despite being much larger than a bird, Beau was constricted and dragged into the water, where the python coiled tightly around his leg.
WATCH: Boy 1 – Snake 0
“They both rolled into the pool and the python wrapped himself around him.”
Thankfully his 76-year-old grandfather, Alan, was nearby.
Brave grandfather
“With no self-preservation whatsoever”, Allan jumped in the pool to rescue Beau.
He pulled Beau out of the swimming pool and passed the boy to his father, but the python refused to let go of the boy’s leg.
Alan said the incident occurred in the blink of an eye:
“It was instant. I saw a big black shadow come out of the bush and before they hit the bottom it was completely wrapped around his leg”.
Snakes here, there and everywhere
Beau’s father, Ben – who describes himself as “not a little lad” – said he was able to wrest his son free from the python, “within 15 to 20 seconds”.
Ben took the incident in his stride, telling reporters with a shrug: “Well, look, it’s where we live”.
According to Ben, snakes were not an uncommon sight in Byron Bay, a sub-tropical region roughly eight hours’ drive to the north of Sydney.
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‘This is Australia’
Snakes are “somewhat of an ordeal”, he said, adding: “It is Australia. They are about.”
Ben said he took control of the situation by cleaning the wound and calmly explaining to his son that he was not going to die because pythons aren’t venomous.
Nevertheless, Beau was taken to a nearby medical facility to prevent the wound on his ankle from becoming infected.
‘Naughty snake’ lives to bite another day
Like father, like son, Beau is said to recovering well after dealing with this life-endangering situation “like an absolute trooper”.
“He’s actually pretty good,” Blake said proudly of his son.
And yes, the snake is still pretty good, too.
Ben released the python into the vegetation surrounding their swimming pool.
“He went back to the scene of the crime, the naughty thing.”
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