ANANOVA (London, UK) 30 December 09 Snake saves family from fire

A Chinese man who nursed a dying snake back to health claims it saved his family by raising the alarm when their house was on fire.

Yu Feng, of Fushun, in Liaoning province, found the dying black snake outside his home, reports the Liaosheng Evening Post.

"I treated it with herbal medicines, and in 20 days it recovered," he said.

He took the snake to a nearby mountain more than a mile away to release it back into the wild - but the next morning it was back at his house.

"I then set it free another two times, but it always came back," Yu added. "People around me said the snake had come back to repay my kindness, so I kept it."

He named the snake Long Long and adopted it as a pet - then one night, he claims it saved the whole family.

Yu explained: "I was asleep when suddenly I felt something cold on my face. I opened my eyes and it was Long Long.

"He had never woken me up before but I was so sleepy I went back to sleep. But Long Long grabbed my clothes with his teeth and whipped the bed with his tail.

"Then he went to my mother's bed and whipped her bed with his tail. I woke up then and smelt something burning, and saw my mother's electric blanket was on fire so I leapt up and turned it off."

Local reptile experts say snakes don't have the intelligence to act in this way - but Yu believes Long Long acted out of kindness, to repay Feng for saving his own life.
Snake saves family from fire

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• CHN Press: Snake saves family from fire - W von Papineäu, Sun Jan 3 10:59:33 2010