Giant 20ft female python and male python killed by hungry villagers for food when mating

According to their local custom, villagers grill pythons over a fire or fried in a pan, serving with vegetables and rice. 

A giant 20-foot female python and a male one were killed by hungry villagers on the Malaysian island of Borneo on a hunting trip last Saturday while the creatures were mating. The villagers have chopped and stir-fried them after finding the pair inside a fallen tree.

Tinsung Ujang, 60, who found the pair, said villagers in the town of Bintulu near the Kelawit River would feast on the meat for days. 

"I looked down into the hole in the wood and was surprised to see the female mating with a smaller male snake," he said. 

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Viral Press

Several men dragged the animals out from a hollow log before shooting them and moving them on to a van. The snakes required at least four men to haul them.

"We had to split the timber to reach them and it was difficult to remove the snakes because of their size and the position. They were locked together," Tinsung said. "I was even more surprised because I have never seen snakes mating before and never seen a giant python that was more than five metres long like this. The male python was quite small."

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Viral Press

They used a chainsaw to cut through the bark and were excited to see the gigantic reptiles which are considered a wonderful dish in the rural Sarawak region. 

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Viral Press

It is kind of honoured when Tinsung returned to the town with the pythons. And according to their local custom, villagers grill pythons over a fire or fried in a pan, serving with vegetables and rice. 

"The snake meat was then divided and its share was distributed equally to villagers and nearby farm workers," said Tinsung.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s centenarian former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was recovering in a hospital Wednesday from a broken right hip that his daughter said was serious but not life-threatening.

Mahathir was rushed to the National Heart Institute on Tuesday after he suffered a fall at his home. His office said he would remain hospitalized for the next few weeks for observation and treatment.

“It’s a hip fracture and we have to wait for it to heal which, due to his age, will take time,” his daughter Marina Mahathir told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “Otherwise he’s as ok as anyone with a hip fracture can be."

She dismissed rumors that her father is dying.

“It’s serious in anyone, more so a 100-year-old but it’s not life-threatening,” she said.

The centenarian fell while doing his normal morning exercise of brisk walking, according to Mahathir’s son, Mukhriz, who added that doctors ruled out surgery due to his age and therefore his recovery may take longer.

Mahathir served as prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020, becoming the world’s oldest head of government during his second term. Despite stepping away from frontline politics, he continues to comment publicly on political developments.

The fall adds to a series of health scares in recent years for the former leader, who has has been hospitalized several times for other conditions that were not critical.

Mahathir has a history of heart disease including two bypass surgeries, the first in 1989 after a heart attack and then a quadruple bypass in 2007. He turned 100 in July and said staying mentally and physically active kept him going.

“So long as I can function, I want to function. I want to behave almost as if I am not getting old. I try to live the same life that I lived when I was younger," he said at the time.

FILE -Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks during a news conference at his office in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)