Sightseer’s nose stitched up after snake bites face during a show in the Thai holiday spot of Phuket

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A Thai company that runs snake shows has paid £2,200 (US$3,200) in damages to a Chinese tourist after she was attacked by one of their pythons when she tried to kiss it.

A video clip posted online shows two men during a show calmly holding the python. A long-haired woman wearing a backpack leans over to kiss it.

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The python launches at the woman, grabbing onto her nose and holding tight while she tries to pry it away. Members of the crowd scream.

The local Phuket News named the woman as 29-year-old Jin Jing and said she had been taken to Phuket international hospital where she received treatment. Thai media published a photo they said was of the woman with several stitches in her nose.

It cited a representative of the Pa-wai Odski company, which runs a “snake charming and venom collection show” as saying the firm paid £2,200 for “her medical bills, pain and stress”. It is not clear if kissing the snake was part of the act or if the woman asked to do so.

It said the snake was a reticulated python, a nonvenomous reptile and the world’s longest snake species.

Animal welfare groups say the conditions for snakes, elephants, monkeys and crocodiles in Thai shows are inhumane. Animals are often kept in poor conditions and paraded around in front of spectators. In one performance, orangutans are made to box each other.