French Guiana Man Catches Monster 17-foot Anaconda with Bare Hands
OutdoorHub Reporters 09.22.14
Anacondas are not something that pet owners in the United States worry about much, but the snakes are occasionally seen in the jungles of coastal French Guiana. Capable of scarfing down a whole deer, these large, slithering predators sometimes find themselves seeking a dog-sized snack in rural neighborhoods. When Sebastien Bascoules recently heard that his neighbor’s dog had been snatched by a wandering anaconda, he took it upon himself to make the area safe again. According to The Telegraph, the 39-year-old math teacher also turned out to be an experienced snake wrangler.
“I have caught between 15 and 20 anacondas,” Bascoules said. “To capture a snake this size is a dream come true.”
It can also be very dangerous. Anacondas are among the largest snakes in the world, and although their threat to humans has been largely overblown by Hollywood movies, they are still very powerful and potentially lethal creatures.
“I was not scared because I thought it was smaller, but I was very surprised by his strength when he began to move and his length was more than 5 meters,” Bascoules said.
The math teacher was able to locate the snake quickly enough, and enlisted the help of a friend to draw it out of the water. Bascoules then blindfolded the anaconda with a shirt and brought it back to his home. Like many other snake species, anacaondas can become docile after being captured and blinded. This did not stop some people from criticizing Bascoules for letting his children touch and even play with the large snake. Bascoules defended his actions, saying that he had been exposed to large snakes as a child himself and that the 17-foot anaconda was perfectly safe, like a “big worm.”
The anaconda was kept in a bathtub overnight at Bascoule’s house and then later released back into the wilderness, far away from any residential neighborhoods.
You can see video of the snake below:
