Terrified baby python believed to have been swept away in a current while trying to escape bushfires is found curled on top of a buoy in the ocean
- Baby python fled into the sea to escape bushfires near on the NSW south coast
- Found clinging to the top of a channel marker buoy in Wagonga Inlet, Narooma
- A kindly fisherman rang wildlife rescuers and sailed them out to rescue the snake
A terrified baby python which fled into the sea to escape bushfires on the far south coast of New South Wales was found clinging to the top of a buoy by rescuers.
Wildlife rescuers came to save the small snake after a nearby fisherman spotted the juvenile diamond python curled up on top of a channel marker in Wagonga Inlet near Narooma.
The good-hearted fisherman picked up the NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) volunteer from a nearby jetty to go rescue the snake.
The pair had to try several times to access the buoy thanks to choppy waters but eventually succeeded in grabbing the python and putting it carefully into a snake-handler’s bag.
The juvenile diamond python was picked up by WIRES volunteers as it clung to the top of a buoy in Wagonga Inlet near Narooma during bushfires last week
The channel marker was floating a considerable way off-shore as bushfire smoke filled the sky
A WIRES volunteer (pictured right) popped the baby snake into a special snake handler’s bag
The rescue is believed to have occurred sometime last week as bushfires continued to burn through the NSW far south coast.
WIRES, Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organisation, posted a video of the tricky rescue on Saturday as bushfire smoke beiged out the sky creating an eerie orange haze over the water.
‘We are not sure if the python was escaping nearby bushfires and/or smoke and then swept along by the currents,’ WIRES wrote on its Facebook page.
The python was unhurt and will be released into safe bushland.
‘While the focus has mainly been on marsupials during these fires the impact on our unique reptiles has also been massive and every rescue will count towards rebuilding populations that have been destroyed,’ WIRES wrote.