The tax office that really IS a nest of vipers: Farmers dump FORTY snakes - including deadly cobras - in protest against bribes

By JESSICA SATHERLEY



Venomous protest: People climb onto chairs and tables to defend themselves from snakes scattered in an office room in Basti, about 186 miles southeast of Lucknow, India



Two farmers fed up with alleged bribery demands emptied three bags filled with snakes in a busy tax office in northern India, an official said yesterday.

The 40 or so snakes of different sizes and species - including at least four deadly cobras - sent clerks and villagers climbing atop tables and scurrying out the door to escape the office in Basti, about 186 miles southeast of Lucknow, said Uttar Pradesh state official Ramsukh Sharma.

‘Snakes started climbing up the tables and chairs,’ he said.



‘There was total chaos. Hundreds of people gathered outside the room, some of them with sticks in their hands, shouting that the snakes should be killed.’

No one was bitten or injured in the incident on Tuesday afternoon, and police and forest officials captured the snakes.



Bid to stop bribery: Two farmers fed up with alleged bribery demands emptied the three bags filled with snakes in a busy tax office



The farmers had been asking for tax records for their land in nearby Narharpur village, but tax officials withheld the files for weeks while allegedly demanding bribes.

Sharma said their method of protest was unacceptable.

Police are searching for the farmers, who were identified as Hukkul Khan and Ramkul Ram.

Khan is known locally as a snake charmer.



Protests against corruption in India is not uncommon and nor is bribery.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators protested in August to support the creation of a new watchdog which would have the power to investigate senior bureaucrats and politicians.

And some Indian states have been posting online videos to air the stories of victims of bribery, in which they name corrupt officials.







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She's 25-feet long, 300 lbs and takes 15 people to hold: Meet Medusa the world's largest snake

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Record breaker: Medusa, seen here cosying up to her new colleagues, will be on display at the Edge of Hell, a haunted house attraction in Kansas City

She weighs more than 300lbs, is 25-feet long and it takes 15 people to hold her up and now Medusa is set to slither into the record books as the world's largest snake living in captivity.

The massive reptile, who will be on display at the Edge of Hell haunted house attraction in Kansas City, eats a 40 pound animal about once a week but could easily eat something over 100 pounds.

She will soon be visited by representatives from the Guinness Book of World Records who are coming to verify her new title.


Not so scary: She may weigh 300lbs and could easily kill a human but Medusa's handler says he is not afraid of the giant snake

Snake trainer Larry Elgar told NBC Action News he isn't intimidated by the monster python: 'They've actually cut people out of them, they are man eaters.

'Fear is just a lack of understanding. I have no fear. I understand that she can kill me. I've been wrapped up and put unconscious by a reticulated python that was only 18 feet long.

'I understand the repercussions, but that's no reason to fear. That car you drove in has killed more people than anything else in the world. But you're not scared when you put your keys in it, are you?'

Medusa is set to bump Fluffy, a reticulated python, off the top spot. At 24-feet long she held the record for longest snake living in captivity until she died at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell, Ohio in October last year.



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Mother left rattled after opening a cupboard to find 5ft SNAKE shaking its tail

By Edward Knight


Terrifying: The 5ft snake was hiding in the darkness of the understairs cupboard and was startled by Mrs Perry opening the door


A mother-of-one was given a shock when she opened a cupboard and found a huge 5ft snake rattling its tail.

Shocked Louise Perry, 49, discovered the black rat snake after she pulled the understairs cupboard door open for a TV repair man.

The mother-of-one was stunned to find the snake staring at her before it slithered away from the light.

Terrified: Louise Perry, 49, discovered the black rat snake in an understairs cupboard where it hid away from light


Miss Perry said: 'The cable TV man wanted a power socket so I opened the door and there was a massive black snake just sitting there.

'It quickly slid away to the back of the cupboard and I screamed 'I've got a snake in the house'.

'I shut the door and freaked out completely. I was shaking." Miss Perry slammed the door shut and the Virgin Media employee called the police who alerted the RSPCA.

When the animal rescue charity worker arrived at the terraced house she was not prepared to deal with such a big snake and had to call for back-up.

Miss Perry, from Portsmouth, Hants, added: "The woman from the RSPCA had a look in the cupboard and when she saw it she was scared herself.

The snake is now being cared for at the RSPCA's Stubbington Ark animal shelter in Stubbington, Hants where it will find a new home if it is not claimed


'She said she had never seen a snake so big and phoned her colleague to come along and help out.

'At one point it rattled its tail and that was when I was absolutely petrified - it must have been angry.

'I told my 14-year-old daughter, Billie, and she stayed in her room the whole time.

'I rang my husband and he said it must be a slow worm - I told him 'that's no slow worm'.

'A snake expert came and was able to deal with it, but it took a good couple of hours.

'He put it in a glass tank and I couldn't even look at it - it was horrid.

'I've got no idea how it got there - we've heard a rumour that a neighbour may have lost a snake recently, maybe it's theirs.' She added: 'I didn't think I had an issue with snakes but when it was here I was so frightened.

'Now when I open cupboards I'm actually nervous and have to double check before opening the door the whole way.'

Unexpected: When the animal rescue charity worker arrived at the terraced house she was not prepared to deal with such a big snake and had to call for back-up.


The black rat snake is most commonly found in America. It has a painful bite and the snake's saliva can contain bacteria which can cause infection.

The snake preys on mice, rats, squirrels and birds, as well as bird eggs, and can live up to 21 years.

It is now being cared for at the RSPCA's Stubbington Ark animal shelter in Stubbington, Hants.

Manager of the Ark Mike Ward said: 'It is an exotic species which is fairly common to be kept as a pet.

'It is not venomous and seems fairly healthy. It needs people who know how to keep snakes in the right type of equipment and the right type of environment.

'We are looking after it for now but if no-one comes forward to claim it we will pass it on to a reptile rescue company who can make sure it finds a new home.'


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The snake escape: Screaming frog hops to safety after 20 minute struggle with serpent

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Fight for survival: The frog holds on for dear life as the snake tries her best to wolf him down

When this snake fancied frog's legs for tea, he didn't reckon on a lengthy struggle with an amphibian who refused to let himself become a fast food snack.

These pictures show how a hardy frog battled with the ravenous reptile for 20 minutes before finally kicking himself free and hopping to safety.

The frog, who had been sunning himself in a back garden in Indonesia, grabbed hold of a branch and held on for dear life after the snake pounced from behind.


Survival of the fittest: Although the snake managed to almost entirely swallow one of the frog's legs, the tenacious amphibian still managed to escape


It seemed the frog's fate was sealed when the red, yellow and black snake wrapped her mouth around his leg and clamped down.

But he somehow broke free and hopped away - bloodied and bruised.

The snake, her fast-food fancy foiled, slunk back into the bushes.

Alerted by the frog's terrified scream, photographer Brizadly Arifin captured this attack in his back garden in Jakarta.

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'I was clenching everything': Terrifying moment a snake slithered up windscreen as SUV sped along highway at 65mph

By FIONA ROBERTS

It's a miracle the driver managed not to crash - let alone keep in a straight line.

A snake terrified a young mother when it suddenly appeared on her SUV's windscreen after slithering out of the engine as she drove along an expressway into Memphis, Tennessee.

Rachel Fisher said she's not usually scared by snakes but she 'was clenching everything' as she drove at 65mph with the unusual hitchhiker on board - and her three young children in the back.


Terror: The huge snake suddenly appears on Rachel Fisher's windscreen as she speeds along the expressway towards Memphis, Tennessee


As she screamed and giggled hysterically, her husband recorded the incident on his camera phone and then posted the video on YouTube, where it has gone viral in just three days.

It happened last week as Mrs Fisher drove her husband, Tony, and their three children Elizabeth, three, Judah, two and Rivers, four months, back to Memphis after visiting her parents in Cordova.


Hitching a ride: The snake slithers along the windscreen

She had been driving for about 15 minutes when her husband suddenly yelled out.

Mrs Fisher told the New York Daily News: 'My husband saw it out of the corner of his eye and did a double-take.


Frightening: The snake winds itself over the wing mirror...


...and then opens its jaws as if ready to strike



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Parents face 35 years in jail after hungry eight-foot pet python kills two-year-old daughter

By JACQUI GODDARD

Killer: Law enforcement officials remove a pet Burmese python, measuring more than 8 feet long, from the home in Oxford, Florida

A mother is facing up to 35 years in jail for third-degree murder after the pet python she treated 'like a puppy' squeezed her two-year-old daughter to death.

Jaren Hare, 21, and her boyfriend Charles Darnell, 34, went on trial in Florida today, two years after they found Hare's daughter Shaianna dead in her cot in July 2009, with their albino Burmese python, Gypsy, coiled tightly around her and its fangs embedded in her forehead.

Investigators say that the 8ft 6in serpent had not been fed for a month and was kept in a tank at their rural home in Oxford, Florida, with only a duvet thrown over the top, tethered loosely with bungee cords and safety pins, to try to prevent it from escaping.


On trial: Jaren Hare and her boyfriend Charles Darnell are accused of criminal neglect after her daughter was killed by their pet snake


Prosecutors say that the episode was more than just a macabre accident and that Shaianna died as a result of criminal neglect by the couple.

Though the snake was the 'instrument of death', Darnell and Hare were responsible for ensuring the child's safety but showed 'reckless disregard', they assert.


Grieving: Charles Darnell hugs Jaren Hare at their home on July 1 2009

'Those two adult defendants are responsible for the unlawful death of Shaianna Hare,' assistant state attorney Peter Magrino told jurors as the trial opened today.

Gypsy had slithered out of her unsecured tank at least five times in the previous four weeks alone, jurors will hear, including once the night before the toddler was killed, when Mr Darnell found the snake squirming along the hallway and popped it back in its tank.

The next morning, he found it wrapped around the little girl's lifeless body, trying to eat her. He stabbed the reptile several times with a six-inch knife and a meat cleaver to get it off Shaianna, but too late to save her.

'The baby's dead. Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby,' he sobbed to an emergency dispatcher after dialling 911.


Under suspicion: Gypsy had slithered out of her unsecured tank at least five times in the previous four weeks alone



Snake: The tank had only a duvet thrown over the top, tethered loosely with bungee cords and safety pins, to try to prevent the python from escaping

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Adders kill two pet dogs: Vets blame warmer weather for surge in deadly snake attacks

By ANDREW LEVY

Shadow, a boarder collie, was killed last month while Daisy May died after being bitten while her owner was recovering from a knee operation


Pet lovers were warned yesterday to be on the lookout for snakes after two dogs died from adder bites.

Vets have reported an increase in attacks, saying the hot weather has encouraged adders out into the open.

One of the canine victims, a King Charles spaniel called Daisy-May, was put down after being bitten in a garden in Canvey Island, Essex.


Maggie Vinten was left devastated by the death of her dog


‘It was really nasty,’ said Carol Toplis, 57, who was looking after the dog for its owners.

‘The venom attacked her organs. She became very sleepy, it was as though she’d had major surgery.’

Vets decided to put the ten-year-old dog down when its kidneys started to fail last week.


Daisy May was taken to the vets to be treated but nothing could be done to save her


Mrs Toplis added: ‘I didn’t realise adders would be around in residential areas. Daisy-May was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

Another dog, border collie cross Shadow, was attacked last month by an adder while she was being walked in a nature reserve near Maldon.

Owner Celly White, 45, said: ‘The vets could see two puncture wounds and her skin was all black and had begun to fall away where it had died.


Sun bather: Adder sits up on a tree stump, to enjoy the sunshine near Godalming, Sussex


‘The vets were wonderful and did everything they could for her. They said they could try a skin transplant and a number of operations but in the end she was in such pain that we had to put her to sleep.

‘With hindsight I wouldn’t have let her off her lead but hopefully more dog owners will be aware of the dangers out there.’

Adder numbers are declining largely because of the destruction of natural habitats. Only 1,000 populations are thought to remain, some with as few as ten snakes.

source : dailymail

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The snake with a sssplit personality: Meet the python born with two heads

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER


Twice the bite: This python regius, or ball python, was born with two heads in Villingen-Schwennigen, Germany


This is one snake who is likely to be more than a little snappy if provoked.

The mutant black and gold python regius - royal python or ball python - was born in Villingen-Schwenningen, southern Germany, with two heads.


Which way next? The one-year-old snake is now 20in long and appears to be coping well with its mutation


Snake breeder Stefan Broghammer said the slippery customer is around one years old and has grown to around 20 inches.

He said the creature is only the second python known to be born with two heads.
The snake is non-venomous, found in Africa and are a popular pet.

Adults generally grow up to around 4ft and when threatened their instinctively curl into a ball to defend themselves.



Rare: Snake breeder Stefan Broghammer, pictured, said it was only the second time on record of a python being born with two heads

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Snake from the Miami Metro Zoo during the Sony Ericsson Open

KEY BISCAYNE, FL - MARCH 24: Tzvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria holds a snake from the Miami Metro Zoo during the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 24, 2011 in Key Biscayne, Florida.



KEY BISCAYNE, FL - MARCH 24: Tzvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria holds a snake from the Miami Metro Zoo during the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 24, 2011 in Key Biscayne, Florida.



KEY BISCAYNE, FL - MARCH 24: Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina holds a snake from the Miami Metro Zoo during the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 24, 2011 in Key Biscayne, Florida.



KEY BISCAYNE, FL - MARCH 24: Jarmila Groth of Australia and Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina hold a snake from the Miami Metro Zoo during the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 24, 2011 in Key Biscayne, Florida.

source: daylife
photo: Gettyimages

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Hop on! Snake gives frog a piggy-back to beat Australian floods

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Snakes alive! The frog is pictured getting as helping hand from the snake in the swirling floodwaters of Queensland


In an apparent re-run of the famous fable The Scorpion and the Frog, this 'I can't-believe-my-eyes' moment came as a snake is caught on camera giving a frog a lift on its back to escape the Australian floods.

Real life played out backwards though, as the frog was the animal hitching the ride this time around.

But whereas in the fable the scorpion stings the frog causing them both to drown, this story had a happy ending as the two plucky animals put aside old differences to fight the elements.

Amid the photos of catastrophe, despair and destruction that beset the eastern state of Queensland, computer technician Armin Gerlach snapped the green frog hitching a ride on the back of a brown snake through the floodwaters near Brisbane.

'It's quite common when you have animals in floods or fires or disasters, they actually get together. But this was amazing. I just couldn't believe it.'

The floods have taken a terrible human toll, however, and in the Brisbane suburb of Toowomba today Donna Rice, 43, and her 13-year-old son Jordan became the first of Queensland's flood victims to be buried.

Red roses were scattered over their white coffins as the funeral brought home the tragic consequences of the floods that engulfed Australia’s northeast earlier this month, claiming the lives of 26 people so far.

The estimated cost of the flood damage stands $5billion Australian dollars (£3.1billion).


source: dailymail

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It's Snakes R Us: The six-month-old girl given a PYTHON to play with by her parents

By Mail Foreign Service

Giving it a squeeze: Sidhi Siddharth Sinune grabs the python with her little hands. It was given to her to play with by her farmer father who earns extra cash as a snake catcher in a remote area of Maharashtra, south-west India


It's a sight to make most parents go cold with fear - a six-month-old girl playing with a python.

But Sidhi Siddharth Sinune who isn't even old enough to walk, never mind run away from the reptile, treats it as a plaything.

This is because it was given to her by her farmer father who earns extra cash as a snake catcher.


Chew on that: The girl munches on the python's tail while playing near her home


He brings home his prey for his daughter to play with because he says he is too poor to afford toys.

'Sidhi has an unusual bonding with the snakes and surprisingly they too like to play with her,' said Siddharth Sinune.

'Being a poor farmer, I can't buy her costly toys but I can get her snakes to play with.'

So while he and his wife are working in nearby fields in a rural part of south-west India the youngster pats the powerful snake which is capable of killing her by constriction in an instant.

In one image she squeezes its scales with her little hands in another she chews on its tail with her gums. Shrieking with delight she lets it weave through her legs.

Although not venomous, pythons are constrictors that kill by constriction, or by swallowing their prey whole.

After catching snakes which stray into the fields close to the village in the state of Maharashtra Sidhi's father releases them back to the surrounding forests.


New best friend: Sidhi shrieks with delight as a giant python weaves through her tiny legs

source :dailymail

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