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COURIER MAIL (Brisbane, Australia) 07 May 08 X-rays show cat inside carpet python (Rebekah Cavanagh)
Photo at URL below: (Chloe Erlich)
A family kitten has been swallowed whole by a 2m carpet python in a Top End back yard - and its grisly fate has been captured in X-rays.
The amazing pictures shows the skeleton of Kohl the kitten inside the snake's stomach.
The pictures are reminiscent of those of "Augusta" the carpet python, who swallowed several golf balls on a northern New South Wales farm, mistaking them for eggs.
In the latest incident, the eight-week-old tabby's skull was three times the size of the python's head.
The snake was found with a "'bulging belly" at the McLaren family's home in Tiwi in Darwin's northern suburbs yesterday.
Three other kittens from the same litter and five adult cats were looking on curiously.
Cat owner Asha McLaren said her 14-year-old daughter Taara had gone out to feed their pets about 7am when she made the grisly find.
"It wasn't a very nice feeling to think that this happened in our back yard," she said.
"My daughter went out to feed the cats and they normally all come running at the sound of the dish, but Kohl was missing.
"She then looked around and saw the snake. She called out to me, saying there was a big snake and that she thought it had eaten Kohl.
"When I went out I couldn't believe it. It had a bulging belly and when we couldn't find Kohl anywhere it was obvious he'd been eaten.
"It was very sad as he was my favourite. He was grey with black stripes and was just gorgeous."
Ms McLaren said they quickly put their other cats in the house so they did not fall victim also.
Snake catcher Gordon Canning was called out to collect the python.
He said it was unusual for a python to target a cat, but the kitten did not have a chance up against the slithering reptile.
He said pythons usually struck at their prey and squeezed it to death before devouring it whole.
"The cat would have been suffocated within minutes," he said.
"The snake did well – usually it is the other way around, with snakes falling victim to cats."
Mr Canning said the snake would be kept at the Ark Animal Hospital in Yarrawonga until it digested its feed.
"At the moment it cannot move very quickly so it could easily be targeted by predators," he said.
"Once it has finished digesting the cat, which will probably take about a week, we will release it back into the wild."
Mr Canning urged people to be cautious in their back yards because snakes were on the move as the breeding season neared.
He has been called out to catch more than 100 snakes since becoming Darwin's first 24-hour snake catcher three weeks ago.
X-rays show cat inside carpet python

Here, kitty, kitty....
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
1.1 Woma
4.2 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.1 Bloods
1.1 Balls
2.2 IJ Carpets
1.0 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.2 F2 Carpondros
2.0 Jungle Carpet
0.1 Carpondro
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
.1 Brazilian Rainbow boas
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC