A five-year-old boy who was mauled by a python and dragged into a New South Wales pool is recovering well after his grandfather and father saved his life.
Ben Blake was with his son Beau at his grandfather’s pool in Ocean Shores, near Byron Bay, when the python struck the boy yesterday.
“I started relaxing in the lounge, started enjoying a can and all of a sudden it was on,” Ben told NBN News.
A five-year-old boy who was mauled by a python and dragged into a New South Wales pool is recovering well after his grandfather and father saved his life. (NBN)
The three-meter python came “out of the blue” and attached itself to Beau’s ankle.
“Before it even hit the bottom of the pool, it was completely wrapped around the leg … it was from the bite to around the knee joint,” he said.
Beau’s grandfather, Alan Blake, 76, instantly jumped into the pool to save the toddler before Ben could remove the snake from his son’s leg.
The three-meter python came “out of the blue” and attached itself to Beau’s ankle. (NBN) Beau’s grandfather, 76, Alan Blake, instantly jumped into the pool to save the boy before Ben could remove the snake from his son’s leg. (NBN)
“I looked in and there was the thing around his legs, so I jumped straight in to grab it,” Alan said.
Alan then passed Beau to his father.
“I grabbed him as close to his head as possible, squeezed and pulled,” said the five-year-old’s father.
Beau is a little off today after yesterday’s panic.
He went to the hospital where the wound was cleaned.
“He’s an absolute trooper, once we cleaned up the blood and told him he wasn’t going to die because it wasn’t a poisonous snake, he was pretty good,” Ben told 3AW earlier.
“I think the python was waiting for a victim to come along, a bird or something, and Beau was everything.”
Ben released the snake back into the bush after the incident, but the creature wasn’t too keen on slithering away.
“He went back to the crime scene, the naughty thing,” Blake said.
Snakes are common in northern NSW, but the family had never seen one near the pool.
The python rug wraps around the baby’s stroller
“We used to check for spiders around the pool, but now we’re going to look for snakes,” Ben said.
“If I wasn’t so close, I would have been underwater and who knows what would have happened.”
Once little Beau has recovered, he will have the whole story to tell his friends at school.