Rescuers hold the 3-metre python captured in a residential area in tambon Nai Muang in Muang Phon district of Khon Kaen on Sunday. It was released into the wild well away from human habitation. (Photo: Chakkrapan Natanri)
A giant python roaming a road in Khon Kaen was captured and released back into the wild after it swallowed a dog.
Online pages across the northeastern province shared images of rescuers holding the huge snake after catching it in tambon Nai Muang.
Police and rescuers were informed that the reptile had been spotted near the road for a couple of days. They went and found it, a python about three metres long, in a wooded area behind a hotel on Charoensuk Road.
Its movements were sluggish and it was easily caught, probably because it had very recently hunted and swallowed another animal, which was partly visible at the entrance to its throat.
When it was released into a forest the snake then vomited up a dead brown dog.
About 10 men were needed to capture and hold the snake.