Mrs. Chan Yin Ha, 42 years old, could not sleep as her cat was missing. Like a good, loving owner, she decided to look for it on the different floors of Sembawang Drive Housing Board block, where she lives. As she was searching through a row of potted plants on the second floor, she reported feeling “a sharp pain” in her left leg. She kicked her leg out, trying to shake off what she thought was her cat scratching her.
Instead of a cute kitty, she saw a 3-meter long python and reportedly “freaked out” at the sight of it.
Mrs. Chan shared that she has a big fear of snakes, so the experiencing was terrifying for her. She immediately jumped and ran way from the python.
“I thought it would coil around me,” she said.
Luckily for the shop assistant, the snake did not give chase. Mrs. Chan tried to wake her neighbor up, but she was no one answered her knocks, so she decided to go back to her home instead, dragging her leg, which she reported was “bleeding profusely”.
Her family helped her clean up and called for an ambulance.
Mrs. Chan’s second floor neighbor, whom she had tried to wake earlier, eventually woke up. The neighbor was shocked to find a bloody slipper and a trail of blood snaking down the corridor.
The neighbor’s first thought was that there had been some sort of bloody altercation, so the neighbor reported it to the police.
When the police got to Sembawang Drive Housing and Development Board block, they followed the trail of blood to Mrs. Chan’s home, where they were shocked that it was a python who had caused all that blood and not the fight they were imagining.
The police then called a pest control agency to help retrieve the misbehaving python, which had hidden in a water pipe. When the pest control agency arrived, they poured hot water into the pipe to force the snake out of its hiding place.
It was finally caught by the pest control handlers in a drain on the ground floor.
This video on Youtube shows the capture of the 3-meter long python that bit Mrs. Chan.
Mrs. Chan was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, where they stitched the bite and observed her for a few hours. Luckily, her injury was not so bad, and she was released with four days’ medical leave.
Mrs. Chan is now at home recovering, but her fear of snakes is worse after that incident.
She recounted an incident in 2016, when she saw another snake also in the drain on the ground floor of her block. She reported that she had spoken with the town council, which had asked a pest control agency to remove the snake.
Mrs. Chan reported her latest incident with the python to the town council.
For those who are wondering what happened to her cat, it eventually returned home safely.
Mrs. Chan, now more aware of safety, said she would not allow her cat to go out often, especially since her housing block is located near a forested area, where the snakes are probably coming from.