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© Sky News 2009 Print Story There have been calls for pythons to be classified as dangerous animals after a teenager was attacked by a gang brandishing a snake. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Python Licence Call After Race Attack On Boy Enlarge photo A 14-year-old was bitten after two attackers allegedly pinned the boy down and dangled the reptile over him in Bradley Stoke, Bristol.
They hurled racial insults at the boy, it is claimed, before the snake sunk its fangs into his right arm.
Muslim rights campaigners want a ban on all snake-related racist behaviour.
In another incident at the weekend, a python devoured a whole tabby cat.
Wilbur strolled into a neighbour's garden - only to be eaten by the 13ft constrictor.
The RSPCA has now repeated its call for Parliament to include the snakes in the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, which would force buyers to get a licence.
It would mean they would be classed in the same category as big cats, and there would be minimum safety requirements when keeping them.
The RSPCA's Calie Woozley said: "Our concern is that you can go into a pet shop and buy this without any particular information or knowledge beforehand.
"You really need to do your research first."
The group issued a written warning to the python's owner after the tabby was "crushed, asphyxiated and consumed whole".
The cat's owners Martin and Helen Wadey heard "blood-chilling cries", but could not get into their neighbour's house.
The RSPCA later identified the "huge bulge" in the snake as the tabby's body.
Mr and Mrs Wade have joined the RSPCA in calling for a change in the law so that pythons are officially classed as dangerous animals.
They are petitioning Downing Street to introduce a "Wilbur's amendment" to the act.
Mr Wade said: "Because of that [incident] Wilbur's little life was brutally snuffed out and after death we have had nothing to say goodbye to, stroke for one last time, mourn over, or bury.
"Our lovely little Wilbur was slowly being digested by a serpent a short distance from us."
The RSPCA said there were no records for how many pythons there are in the UK, but it could be anywhere between several thousand and 100,000.
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