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HERALD SUN (Melbourne, Australia) 17 December 08 Python takes on possum in battle to the death (Sean Plambeck)
Photo: Caught ... a python wraps itself around a possum. (Peter Liddle)
A battle to the death between a python and a possum fought in a suburban back yard has been caught on camera.
Peter Liddle, of Kuraby in southern Brisbane, heard screams outside his bedroom window on Monday night and went out to investigate.
He found a possum in his macadamia tree attempting to fight off a 2m-long python, with the marsupial scratching and biting the reptile.
Mr Liddle took the side of the cute and furry animal in the battle and attempted to break up the fight by throwing a broom at the pair.
The broom missed and all hope of the possum winning its struggle was lost.
"The snake constricted around the possum's chest and within five seconds it was dead," Mr Liddle said.
The python tried to haul the possum up the tree but it dropped its prey to the ground.
"I watched the snake come down the tree and over a period of about an hour he ate the possum," he said.
Mr Liddle said he let nature take its course and tried not to frighten the snake as he knew it would regurgitate its food if spooked and he didn't want to clean up a dead possum.
"What made us worried at first is that we have a cat and our neighbours have two small dogs," he said.
"But he's had such a big feed that we won't see him for a few months. He's probably asleep in a neighbours roof now."
The snake's win has also had some benefits for Mr Liddle because he had not known what was eating the macadamias off his tree.
Now he knows it was the possum and he won't have to worry about it stealing any more.
"I've sent the photos to some friends having a white Christmas in America and I said to them 'You enjoy white Christmas because this is what we have here,'" he said.
Python takes on possum in battle to the death
