Baby bites head off snake in northern Israel
Arab Israeli children pose with a pet snake at an amusement park in the northern Israeli city of Acre on August 31, 2011, as Muslims celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
In a twist on the usual scenario, an encounter between a baby and a snake at a home in northern Israel ended with the one-year-old boy biting the snake's head off.
The baby, named Imad Gadir, came across the 13-inch snake in his room Thursday morning, in Shfaram, near Haifa, the Ynet news website reported.
His mother entered the room to find Imad chewing on the dead snake, and in shock she screamed so loudly that neighbors came running.
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"I went to the kitchen to get him some milk, and when I came back I saw he was already eating," Imad's mother, Alain, told Ynet. "I still can't believe what I saw."
"It wasn't a pretty sight," said grandfather Shaheen Shaheen.
Fortunately for the baby, the reptile was a coin snake, which are not poisonous — although its bite can be painful. But more worryingly, coin snakes are known for choking their prey, and if this one had been bigger, the baby could have been strangled.
Baby Imad was not hurt, but was taken to hospital in Haifa for a medical check, just in case.
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