Golf-ball eating snake and ex-Thai PM are out of bounds
Exiled former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and a snake have shared some of the golfing headlines over the past few days.
Some might say there’s no difference between the two, but that’s being unkind … to the snake. I’m kidding, of course, but I had to get that joke in.
Anyway, a carpet python in Sydney, Australia has earned the nickname of “Augusta” after it swallowed four golf balls inside a chicken coop.
News reports say the golf balls were placed in the pen to encourage the hens to lay eggs but the one-metre serpent mistook the dimpled objects for real eggs.
You would think after engulfing one golf ball, it would have figured it out.
The people who owned the chicken coop showed mercy on the snake and took it to the Currimbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Queensland, where it underwent surgery to remove the golf balls.
Augusta is expected to make a full recovery before being returned to the wild and senior vet Michael Pyne told AFP:
“Without surgery, it would have certainly died. The golf balls had travelled as far as they could in the snake’s system and it was destined for a slow, painful death without surgery.”
Next time, maybe the snake would be better off going after the chickens.
Thaksin, meanwhile, is offering golf as an olive branch to the generals who dethroned him from office in a bloodless coup more than two years ago.
The ex-PM was accused of corruption and shoved out of his leadership seat by Thai army generals.
However, his revamped party did well in recent elections and Thaksin, who owns English Premier League club Manchester City, is being tipped for a comeback and he believes all can be forgiven over a round or two in one of Thailand’s many beautiful golf courses.
On the subject of whether or not he would seek revenge against his military foes, he said:
“I would invite them to play golf with me. Then, it will be over. What would I get out of it (revenge)? I might feel gratified but the country would be damaged.”
Damaged indeed, a bit like a snake that has eaten four too many golf balls.