Villagers catch huge python that devoured resident's pet cat

Brave villagers caught a huge python that devoured a resident's pet cat in Thailand.

Footage shows volunteers tackling the 8ft beast that was lying in tall grass after swallowing a hapless kitten at a housing estate in Ayutthaya province on August 7.

Terrified local Chamroen Temthung, 47, said she found the humongous reptile squeezing her neighbour's pet cat to death at around 6 am local time.

She called snake catchers to get rid of the reptile but it was too late to save the feline that was crushed in the serpent's grip.

The animal rescuers tackled the bulging python that had escaped into a nearby overgrown lot. It tried to hide by cramming itself in a nook on a stone fence, where it was finally cornered.

Chamroen said: 'I heard a kitten crying at around dawn. I checked to see what was wrong, and I was terrified when I saw the gigantic snake coiling around it.

'I was worried it would return to prey on the other cats in the neighbourhood, so I called the rescuers for help.'

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.