Man grabs python's tail, swings it to free cat from deadly grip
A man dramatically rescued a cat that was being strangled by a python by grabbing the snake by its tail and swinging both animals into the air until the reptile released its grip.
In a Facebook post, user Marcus Lee shared a video of himself performing the daring rescue where he used one hand to save the cat.
He wrote in the caption that the cat survived the ordeal, having "shot into the safety of the shadows" once freed from the python's grip.
'I swung them through the air'
The one-minute clip shows the man yanking the python out of a drain, revealing it coiled tightly around a struggling cat.
He then lifts both animals onto the road and swings them several times into the air, presumably in a bid to make the snake release its grip. At one point, he even uses his foot to try to pry the python away from the cat.
After several tense seconds and a few more swings, the python finally releases the cat and slithers off.
In his caption, Marcus described hearing a "rustle", followed by "snarls, then a yowl that choked into a wet, gurgling gasp".
When he approached the drain and saw one of the community cats "ensnared in a python's relentless coils", he acted on "pure instinct" and grabbed the snake's exposed tail.
"I swung them through the air, a desperate, whirling dance to disorient the snake, to break its fatal focus," he wrote.
After what felt like an eternity, he said the python finally released its grip and the cat, "a blur of liberated fear, shot into the safety of the shadows".
Heroic or disrupting nature?: Netizens debate
Marcus said he stayed to ensure the python was unharmed and even "whispered an apology into the darkness", for depriving it of a "lost meal".
"Had it been the snake in distress I would have fought just as fiercely for it. This was not about choosing sides," he said.
The Facebook page Singapore Wildlife Sightings reposted the video, which has garnered more than 200 reactions and some 90 comments at press time.
Netizens expressed mixed reactions to the man's actions - with some hailing him a "hero", while others criticised the intervention as a disruption to nature.
Many thanked him for saving the cat, with one saying that they cannot watch a cat in that condition.
"I don't think this is right," another wrote, adding that this is "nature" unless it was their pet.
Others also questioned why the man filmed the ordeal instead of using both hands to rescue the cat, suggesting it might have saved him time.
Stomp has reached out to the original poster for comment.
