PHOTO: Police Jump On Enormous, 125-Pound Python Strangling Kentucky Man

Police officers battled a 20-foot, 125-pound python that attacked a Kentucky reptile store owner Monday, fighting it with a mop to save the man as he was being strangled by the beast.

Terry Wilkins, the owner of Captive Born Reptiles in Newport, Kentucky, was cleaning the snake’s cage when it bit him and began to coil itself around him, according to WLWT.

“The snake’s got him, please hurry up,” a frantic 911 caller said. “The snake’s wrapped around his neck. He’s got blood all over him.”

When police arrived, two officers saw the snake coiled around Wilkins, who was bleeding and unconscious.

“I saw him lying on the ground. I see a puddle of blood. He looks lifeless,” Newport Police Sgt. Daron Arnberg said, according to WLWT.

”So naturally we have to try to save him. So I grabbed the mop and tried to hold the snake’s head down, and that didn’t work. The lieutenant stepped aside me and grabbed the snake by the head so we wouldn’t get bit.”

Wilkins was unconscious when officers got the snake off of him. He was sent to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, WCPO reported.

He was breathing at the hospital and is expected to be OK, WLWT reported.

The snake was a breeding snake and in compliance with Newport’s snake ordinances, according to WLWT. It was not used to being handled by people.

Image via Newport Police