Farmer Discovers 16ft Snake in Cow Pen and It Was Poised To Strike

A farmer in eastern Malaysia got a "big shock" when he spotted a 16-foot snake hanging above his cow pen.

Zainuddin Embong, 24, was about to feed his cows when he noticed the enormous python, which he told local media was poised and ready to strike.

"A snake that size, it would have swallowed one cow whole," Embong told the New Straits Times. "I have had pythons eat chickens, that I also rear, before, but none of them was as big as this snake."

The incident took place in the early hours of Friday morning in the Terengganu state of Air Putih.

According to local media, the snake weighed roughly 220 pounds, and Embong had to call in his friends to help him move it. "I am used to catching snakes by myself, but this one was too big and I had to ask three of my friends to come help me catch it," he said.

Reticulated pythons are one of the longest snake species in the world, regularly reaching over 20 feet in length. The snakes are native to southeast Asia and are usually found in woodlands, grasslands and rainforests. They are highly adaptable and have even been found in sewers in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo.

As with all constrictor snakes, the reticulated python is non-venomous and kills its prey by suffocation. Their prey typically includes birds and small mammals, although they have been known to eat larger animals such as deer, pigs and perhaps even cows.

Attacks on humans are rare but not unheard of. There are numerous reports of people being eaten by these snakes, including a woman in Indonesia, whose body was found inside a 22-foot python.

Embong said that it took him and his three friends nearly an hour to catch the python in his cow pen, which he described as "very aggressive."

"My farmhouse is located quite far away from anything, so if I had called the Fire and Rescue Department or the Civil Defense Force, it would have taken too long for them to get here," he said. "That's why I decided to catch the snake myself, with the help of my three friends from the same village...I didn't want the snake to get away and then come back later to threaten anyone or anything else."

Although Embong and his friends managed to remove the snake, in most cases the best advice is to stay calm and call your local wildlife rescue center. Avoid handling the snake yourself.