MELAKA: Three family members from Kampung Ulu Seraja in Parit Melana here watched in horror as a python attacked their pet cats.

       Houseowner Hasmi Hassan, 56, said his wife Ruzita Abu Bakar, 53, heard a loud meowing at 3am yesterday and initially thought a male cat was trying to mate.

       “However, the meowing continued. My daughter then found that a python was inside one of the three cages where 14 of our cats were kept,” he said in an interview here yesterday.

       Hasmi said the 4m-long reptile ate six of the cats before his 21-year-old daughter alerted the Alor Gajah Civil Defence Force (APM).

       “My family is saddened by the incident and the loss of our pet cats. It’s unbelievable how such an enormous python made its way into a tiny cage with wire mesh,” he added.

       Alor Gajah APM’s operation officer Lt (PA) Abdul Hadi Baharom said a distress call was received at 6.50am yesterday.

       He said four of his men managed to capture the python, which weighed about 20kg, in five minutes before releasing it into its natural habitat.