Reportedly there are 11 kinds of pythons that exist in the world, mainly in Asia and Africa. Each one more deadly than the last. While some people keep them as house pets, they are not to be messed with. Although that’s kind of a given. Pythons are known to strike without warning and that’s especially true for one Indonesian local. Wa Tiba simply went to go check on her corn when the unexpected happened – a python struck and swallowed her whole.
Python Strikes Again
This is actually the second time in not even a year that an Indonesian villager was swallowed whole by a python. However this specific snake species is rather common in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, although it is highly rare for them to attack humans. Unfortunately Wa Tiba paid the ultimate price. But could she have averted danger? And how did she even find herself in such a terrible situation?
Python Strikes Again
Muna Island
Muna is an island located in the Southeast Sulawesi province of Indonesia, home to Wa Tiba. Some 268K people reside in the island. 54 year old Wa Tiba left her home on Muna island so that she could visit her cornfield, according to the Jakarta Post. How little did she know what dangers were waiting for that fated day.
Muna Island
Reticulated Pythons
The corn field is just a mere half mile from her house. However that particular field is surrounded by cliffs, caves and numerous reticulated pythons, which happen to be the longest snakes in the world. Some of them can get up to 30ft long, although there could be larger ones that we don’t know about yet. GULP.
Reticulated Pythons
The Stats
Apart from being the world’s longest snake, they’re also the longest reptiles AND are among the three heaviest snakes. None of that makes me feel any better….you? Didn’t think so. Just like all pythons, these are primarily ambush hunters. Meaning that they wait until prey wanders within a particular strike range before they seize it in their coils and kill by constriction. I kind of also wish I didn’t know that.
The Stats
Rare
Reticulated Pythons typically feed on smaller mammals. Such as birds, rodents and chickens. Moreover attacks on humans are reported to be as “rare as winning the lottery and being struck by lightning at the same time”, according to a report by the Washington Post. There have only been nine reported cases of attacks on humans, but that’s nine too many for us. And yes, the June 2018 attack on Wa Tiba is included in that count.
Rare
The Same
Even with such statistics, last year a 25 year old farmer from an adjacent island (Salubiro on the island of Sulawesi) was found inside of a 23-foot-long python after he went missing. The entire incident was captured in a gruesome YouTube video.
The Same
First Time
Akbar Salubiro, the 25-year-old farmer we mentioned, was declared missing from his palm tree plantation. The next day, the people who were searching for him spotted a python with a rather large bulge in its stomach. They immediately killed the python and that’s when they found the whole body of Salubiro inside. In fact, this was actually the first fully confirmed case of a person that was eaten by a python.
First Time
Wild Boars
Tiba had admitted in the past that she was concerned about wild boars. Not snakes, said the Jakarta Post. Pigs had recently been raiding the crops and that’s why she went to go check on her corn field.
Wild Boars
Search Party
When Tiba didn’t return home by Friday morning, her sister started the search for her. Some 100 people from the village of Persiapan Lawela joined her in the search. All they found were her footprints, flashlight, machete and slippers.
Search Party
No Return
“Children and residents had been looking for Wa after she did not return home,” said the police superintendent Agung Ramos. The entire community seemed to rally together to find the single mom of two sons.
No Return
Search Carries On
By the following morning, some 100 people from the nearby village of Persiapan Lawela helped to comb the fields, reported the Agence France-Presse. Everyone was hoping for the best but they knew to remain optimistic. Maybe she had simply fell and was couldn’t walk. No one could have imagined what they would find next.
Search Carries On
Success
Finally after many hours, they found Wa Tiba’s belongings…and next to it was a reticulated python. They saw that it was huge, after measuring it, they also discovered it was 23 feet long. The villagers noted that the snake was so bloated, it couldn’t move. Plus it had a massive bulge midway down its body.
Success
Call The Police
After finding her belongings, Tiba’s family contacted the police. “The family then reported this to the police and the search reached its conclusion at 9am.” Of course her family was still hopeful that maybe, just maybe the snake’s belly didn’t hold what they thought it might.
Call The Police
The Location
The police chief noted that the garden where they located Wa Tiba, where she had disappeared, was at the base of a cliff. This same cliff was known as home to many snakes. It sounded like Tiba had walked into a dangerous situation.
The Location
A Decision
The villagers decided they needed to kill the snake. And so they did. The color and size of the python varied from others but the villagers knew what they were dealing with. The local police chief Hamka said, “Residents were suspicious the snake swallowed the victim, so they killed it, then carried it out of the garden.”
A Decision
What’s Next?
Villagers were crowding around the snake. Many were clamoring and crying, as some made videos as a man knelt down and proceeded to carefully cut across the bulge with a machete. All of this was similar to the farmer from March 2017.
What’s Next?
On The Inside
Just what did they find inside the reticulated python? The police chief said, “The snake’s belly was cut open and the body of the victim was found inside.” I cannot even imagine what her family felt at the time, and what all the villagers were thinking when they saw what was inside.
On The Inside
From Her Head
“When they cut open the snake’s belly they found Tiba’s body still intact with all her clothes,” said Farris, the village chief. “She was swallowed first from her head.” We can hardly imagine a harsher way to die.
From Her Head
Wa Tiba’s Outfit
Wa Tiba had been wearing brown leggings and a dark red top, and when she was taken out of the snake’s belly, she was still fully clothed in that exact outfit. Snakes don’t care what their preys are wearing, as long as they get their meal.
Wa Tiba’s Outfit
A Sad Conclusion
Police superintendent Agung Ramos told The Daily Mail, “People took the snake into the village and started splitting the snake. The suspicions were true and there was a body in tact inside the snake. Unfortunately the victim was lifeless.”
A Sad Conclusion
State of Shock
One of the residents, Ayu Kartika, said, “Everybody was crying, everybody was shocked. The poor woman. This is like a horror movie. People are terrified. We are scared to go outside. We can only pray for a safety.”
State Of Shock
But How?
How does a reticulated python secure its prey? First with a bite, then it wraps its body around the victim. From there it squeezes down until the victim cannot breathe anymore. All of this is done before they consume the victim. The Associated Press said that that’s why Wa Tiba probably didn’t die inside of the snake.
But How
A Hoax
The Post also said that it is rare for humans to be eater and that more often than not, it’s all a hoax. A picture of a snake digesting a pig was used once to falsely claim human attacks in China, Africa and across Southeast Asia. Sadly in Indonesia, two people have lost their lives.
A Hoax
Laid To Rest
Wa Tiba did have a traditional burial ceremony later in the afternoon after her body was discovered. Her burial kept with traditional religious customs. We can only hope that such a terrible event does not occur again.
