A photograph purporting to show a 55ft snake found in a forest in
China has become an internet sensation.
It was originally posted in a thread on the website of the People’s
Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper in China.
The thread claimed the snake was one of two enormous boas found by
workers clearing forest for a
road outside Guping city, Jiangxi
province.
They apparently woke up the sleeping snakes during attempts to
bulldoze a huge mound of earth.
“On the third dig, the operator found there was blood amongst the
soil, and with a further dig, a dying snake appeared,” said the post.
“At the same time, another gold coloured giant boa appeared with its
mouth wide open. The driver was paralysed with fear, while the other
workers ran for their lives.
“By the time the workers came back, the wounded boa had died, while
the other snake had disappeared. The bulldozer operator was so sick that
he couldn’t even stand up.”
The post claimed that the digger driver was so traumatised that he
suffered a heart attack on his way to hospital and later died.
The dead snake was 55ft (16.7m) long, weighed 300kg and was estimated
to be 140 years old, according to the post.
However, local government officials in Guiping say the story and
photograph are almost certainly a hoax as giant boas are not native to
the area.Via