Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire / makassar_iinfo

These images show the charred carcass of a gigantic predatory snake said to measure over 30 feet in length which was found burned to death in a forest fire.

The animal believed to be a reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) could not escape as its territory was engulfed in flames during the widespread fires currently burning out of control on Indonesian Borneo and the island of Sumatra.

Images supplied to Asia Wire show the python’s scales having been charred black.

The apex predator was reportedly found by residents in the village of Basirih Hilir, which is in the East Kotawaringin Regency in Central Kalimantan Province on Indonesian Borneo – Asia’s third largest island shared between Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south.

The residents are said to have been taking part in firefighting efforts when they came across the charred snake carcass behind a secondary school on 14th September.

The animal was “as thick as an adult’s thigh” and measured 10 metres (32 feet) in length, witnessed said.

The species is known by Borneo’s native Dayak people as ‘Tangkaluk’ – or ‘King Python’.

A social media video also allegedly showed three other pythons – two large and one small – having been burned to death in the same fires, but the location where they were discovered was not confirmed.

Reticulated python are among the few snake species known to prey on humans. They are responsible for a number of reported human deaths in Southeast Asia.

A surge in forest fires in Borneo and Sumatra – similar to those in the Brazilian Amazon – were reported last week, with the disaster spreading toxic haze across the region and affecting neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.

At least two people – a four-month-old girl and a 59-year-old man – have died as a result of the worsening haze on the islands, local reports said.

The out-of-control fires are an annual occurrence in Indonesia, and are deliberately started by farmers and landowners in order to convert large swathes of rainforest into plantations for the lucrative production of palm oil.

On 16th September, the Indonesian National Police said they had arrested nearly 200 people suspected of involvement in forest-burning activities.

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