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Summary:
Email with photographs of a very large snake caught in an electric fence
claims that the snake had been killing sheep on an Australian farm (Full
commentary below).
Status:
Genuine photographs - False Description
Example:(Submitted
March 2007)
Electric Fence.... 2 photos Read story first!!!
An Australian sheep farmer was puzzled at the disappearance of sheep on his
farm.
After a few weeks of sheep disappearing the farmer decided to put up an
electric fence.
This is what he found!
Commentary:
These photographs of a large snake that has died after being caught in an
electric fence have been circulating via email since 2005. The photographs
are genuine. However, in most versions of the email, the description that
accompanies the images is inaccurate.
The version discussed here claims that the snake was caught on an Australian
sheep farm after the owner put up an electric fence to kerb the mysterious
disappearance of some of his sheep. A number of other versions have similar
cover stories set in different areas of the world.
In fact, the photographs were taken on the
Silent Valley Game Ranch in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A
web page on the game ranch website explains:
The snake in this
picture had eaten a full grown Impala ewe and, sadly, caught itself in an
electric fence.
Over four metres in length, this was a large specimen. When the python was
skinned we found a full grown Impala ewe had just been swallowed.
The
African Rock Python is identified as the third largest species of snake
in the world.
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