Snake kidnaps Thai woman, holds her for two hours before releasing her

Bangkok — A 64-year-old woman was preparing to wash her evening dishes at her home outside Bangkok when she felt a sharp pain in her thigh and looked down to find a huge snake grabbing her.

“I was about to scoop some water and when I sat down I was immediately bitten. When I looked up I saw the snake coiled around me,” Arom Arunroj told Thai newspaper Thairath.

The four- to five-metre-long snake wrapped itself around her torso, pinning her to the floor of her kitchen.

“I grabbed him by the head, but he wouldn’t let me go,” she said. “He just held me tighter.”

Snakes are non-venomous constrictor snakes, which kill their prey by gradually squeezing it to expel their breath.

She leaned against her kitchen door and began crying for help, but authorities were not called until about an hour and a half after the incident, when a neighbor heard her screams.

When he arrived, the woman was still leaning against her door, looking tired and pale, with the snake coiled around her, police officer Anusorn Wongmalee told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Police and animal control officers used a metal bar to hit the snake on the head until it released its grip and fled before anyone could catch it.

In total, Arum spent about two hours Tuesday evening in the snake’s clutches before he was freed.

The woman received treatment for multiple bites, but appeared unharmed in videos of her speaking to Thai media shortly after the incident.

Encounters with snakes are not uncommon in Thailand. Last year, 26 people were killed by venomous snakebites, according to government statistics. A total of 12,000 people were treated for bites from venomous snakes and other animals by 2023.

The reticulated python is the largest snake found in Thailand and typically ranges in size from 1.5 to 6.5 metres (5 to 21 ft) long and weighs up to about 75 kilograms (165 lb). A python measuring 10 metres (33 ft) long and weighing 130 kilograms (287 lb) has been found.

Small snakes feed on small mammals such as mice, but larger snakes will feed on prey such as pigs, deer, and even domestic dogs and cats. Attacks on humans are uncommon, although they do occur.