Pet python makes meal of pet cat

BRISTOL, England, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- An English couple are campaigning for legal restrictions on pet pythons after their cat ended up as a meal for a neighbor's pet snake.

Martin and Helen Wadey of Bristol said their cat, a 4-year-old tabby named Wilbur, was eaten by a python allowed to roam in the neighbor's garden, The Times of London reported Sunday. The neighbor was not home at the time.

"We heard the python's strike from the terrified scream that came from Wilbur and the blood-chilling cries as he fought for his life," Martin Wadey said. "Then in less than a minute, all was silent."

The couple learned for sure what had happened only a few days later when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals scanned the 4-foot python and discovered Wilbur's identifying microchip was still in its body.

The Wadeys have started a "Justice for Wilbur" campaign because the Dangerous Wild Animals Act does not include pythons. They want large pet snakes to be licensed and owners fined if the snakes are not confined.

"Wilbur's little life was brutally snuffed out," Martin Wadey said. "We don't want it to have been in vain."