Hong Kong pastor sees 'love' as goat battles killer python in failed attempt to protect its kid
A pastor from Sai Kung says he saw an example of God’s love in the death of a goat, which was strangled by a python while it attempted to protect its kid.
But the two-month-old baby goat was also killed by the three-metre Burmese python, which raided the goat farm at the drug-rehabilitation ministry on Pak Tam Road on Sunday night.
Reverend Wong Kwong-fai, vice-executive director of Christian New Being Fellowship, which operates the ministry, was stunned yesterday when he discovered the double loss.
“I saw from a distance the mother, which was lying on the ground. I opened the gate and went in to see a goat coming to me with an unusual look on his face. And then I saw the python in the corner,” Wong said.
The entire baby goat was engulfed by the python, with its horn piercing the snake’s skin.
Three other adults and another kid were unhurt.
David Willot, the famed snake catcher from Sai Kung, was called in after police arrived.
Willot said that besides the goat, there was something about the size of a civet cat inside the reptile.
He caged the python, which was unable to move after its big meal. It will be handed to the Kadoorie Farm in Tai Po.
Wong said he and some of the 50 young ex-drug addicts being vocationally trained in the village were sad about the mother, which they had looked after for about three years, and its baby.
“The mother lost her life trying to protect her baby. This is the greatness of a mother’s love,” Wong said.
“And it’s also like how God loves us, whom he sacrificed himself to save.”
Wong said the noise of the downpour on Sunday night must have covered the bleats of the goats when the python attacked, so that no-one was alerted.
The python might have snuck in through the water outlets, he said, adding that more protection might be needed for the goat-rearing area.
Willot said it was rare to see a python killing two animals at once.
“For some reason, I don’t know why, it decided to forget about that one for now and go for another one. There’s no way the snake could eat two,” Willot said.
He added that it was “highly unlikely” that another python was involved.
Willot catches about six big pythons each year.
“I feel a little bit sorry for the [goat] owner, but I also feel sorry for the snake because it lost its meal,” Willot said. “It’s not easy for a snake to survive in the wild. It probably hadn’t eaten for months, and it finally found a good meal.”
