Residents of Karaha village in Gaturi ward in Kiharu constituency can now breathe a sigh of relief after a 5-metre python that was posing danger to them was captured yesterday evening.
The reptile was spotted by one Judy Wanjiku at her home while it was chasing her hens. She then alerted her son Harrison Njogu who was joined by other youth from the village in a bid to capture it.
But it took the skills of one Eston Kimani who is known for his prowess in catching snakes, to ensure the python was safely captured and handed over to the Kenya Wildlife Service.
In one year, the 23-year-old man, who is a bodaboda rider, has been able to catch more than five pythons.
“I have watched a lot of wildlife movies and learnt how snakes are handled. This is what I put into practice,” he remarked.
He jokingly said his blood and that of the snakes seem to attract each other as he has never been bitten.
Wanjiku, who spotted the snake, narrated how the snake had on several occasions run after the children before retreating back to the thickets near her home.
"I was at my kiosk when I heard a commotion that suggested that my chicken were restless and after I checked I saw the python chasing the hens and was about to feast on one of them. I raised an alarm and pelted it with stones forcing it to run into a nearby bush," she explained.
Wanjiku also said she suspected the snake ate her two other hens that went missing mysteriously a few weeks ago and has since then feasted on a number of domesticated animals in the area.
Talking to K24 Digital, her son, who was instrumental in the process, revealed it took them thirty minutes to finally capture the snake and put it inside a sack
"Our aim was to capture it alive and so we had to ensure we do not harm it while ensuring it doesn't attack us," he said.
Muranga town and its environs are known to be a habitat for different types of snakes mostly pythons due to its hot weather and rocky terrain.
