Warning: Would You Save This Kitten From a Deadly Python?
Fri, Mar 14, 2008
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An Australian woman is healing from injuries suffered when she saved her kitten’s life by punching a python.
Ruth Butterworth was raising the kitten in the Australian city of Brisbane. The python puncher said she was trying to save the kitten, which she’s named Tuffy, from the same fate as its mother. Its mother, Coco, had been squeezed to death just days before Tuffy’s attack. It’s unknown whether the same python was responsible.
Butterworth said: “It was almost dark and I saw this silhouette coming down, and I knew what was about to happen to Tuffy. Here was this evil thing coming out of the fence, coming down, and within a couple of seconds it had the cat.”
Try as she might to get little Tuffy back to safety, the kitten was oblivious to the danger and ignored her calls before it was attacked.
“I just started punching the thick part of the snake where it was about the size of my arm. I wasn’t looking, I just kept punching until it let go,” said Butterworth.
After the battle, the snake slithered away. Butterworth then realized she’d been hurt in the scuffle. For her heroic kitten saving efforts, she suffered a broken wrist and several bites from the snake.
Source: News.com.au
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March 15th, 2008 at 2:13 am
I’m sad for the snake.
It got attack by a mad woman and didn’t get any dinner.
March 15th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Well, it’s nice that she saved the kitten… kind of ridiculous to call a wild predator an “evil thing”, it was just hunting trying to find a meal, not purposely killing the kitten for fun.
March 15th, 2008 at 5:42 am
A mother’s love!!! I’d save me cherren’ but not me kitty kat, I reckon!!
March 15th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
She needs to keep a machete close by…
March 16th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Yes, I WOULD DO THE SAME. THAT SNAKE CAN FIND FOOD SOME WHERE ELSE. THIS PRETTY KITTY WANTS TO LIVE AND BE LOVED, OTHER WISE THE WOMAN WOULD NOT HAVE SAVED IT.
March 16th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
It’s pure natural instinct for the snake. She should know better than to leave her cats around where phythons can get them. Moreover, she injured some poor thing that was hungry, and doesn’t know the difference.
I hate this woman, even though I love cats.
March 16th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
-dOROTHY
1. ALLCAPS in the online world makes it look like you are yelling. When people yell normal sentences, it sounds fairly idiotic. Try reading what was written in a very loud voice. Does that not come across poorly to you?
2. It is a snake, and therefore cannot tell the difference between a normal piece of prey and a creature that looks like prey but a developed primate has taken a liking too. It sees food and eats it.
3. dOROTHY claims that a the woman saved the kitten because it wanted to live and be loved. More likely the woman wanted the kitten to live so that she could love it. The kitten does have the desire to avoid pain, but the snake has an equally important desire to avoid starving. If the snake did not eat the kitten, it would have to eat something else, which in theory holds the same rights as the kitten does.
March 26th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I think Jard is an idiot. Why are you making such a huge deal that she left the cap lock on? wow. You are a freak. I would save something I loved from destruction if I had the chance, even If I was hurting someone lese to do it. Anyone who is not evil would do that.
March 31st, 2008 at 6:43 pm
what a fucking stupid woman. She is lucky to have survived
April 8th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Meh, I feel its justified to try and defend a cat from a snake, even though its not the snakes fault at all.
If you look at it from a certain point of view, you cold argue that she own the cat like she owns a fridge (probably), so she is just stopping what she owns from getting damaged.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
i would definately jump in to save my cats if something was trying to eat them- then again though, my cats would not be outside where they could be eaten. i take my cats outside but never unattended and if i see an eagle fly over i take them right in. no one is wrong in the situation. the snake was hungry and saw an opportunity. the kitten doesn’t look like it’s all there mentally (although this picture could have been taken after it was attacked) so it was probably oblivious. the woman had her instincts kick in and she reacted. with minor injuries it seems like everything turned out okay and i just don’t see why there is all the name calling and bashing of other’s opinions. i do wonder why should would let the cat outside after it’s mother had just been taken by a snake. there is a saying that lightning strikes no where twice but i think we can all agree it’s not true.
March 17th, 2009 at 2:18 am
A snake has to eat, just because snakes aren’t cute and cuddly they shouldn’t be stopped from doing what comes naturally for their survival.
I’m sure Ms Butterworth wouldn’t have bothered saving a mouse from the kitten’s sharp claws.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:16 am
You’re a true hero to me, I like to think I’d have done the same thing, but who knows. Well done you!!
July 13th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
It’s great that everyone’s so fucking smug about how empathetic they are towards the python (true animal lovers and true egalitarians who don’t discriminate between species, I applaud you, I really do), but it was just as “natural” for the woman to punch the python to protect the kitten–her “baby” as it was for the python to want to eat the kitten–its food.
“Hating” the woman for acting in her own self interest/in the interest of her beloved kitten (just like the python did) is just as stupid as hating the python for trying to satiate its hunger.
Conclusion: Don’t apply double standards and think you’re that smart/cool/intelligent/open-minded. You’re not. :)
July 24th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Why the heck was the kitten outside at all, particularly if the mother cat was killed by a python only days before???
July 27th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
how could you stupid people could let that cute little baby kitten to be killed? you don’t deserve to live…fairly more does tuffy
August 14th, 2009 at 8:51 am
That was by far the dumbest thing ever. “The evil thing”. For crying out loud its not evil, its just a snake. If you want to see an amimal that is evil then just look up as you brush your teeth in the morning. We humans have done far more “evil” things in this world. As for the snake, it was trying to eat a meal! Whats so evil about that??? Its a living animal, thats what animals do. They eat other animals in order to live. We as humans do the samething!!!