La Noti, a 63-year-old indonesian farmer, was killed and swallowed whole by a massive reticulated python in July 2025 while feeding his livestock in Southeast Sulawesi—discovered when villagers tracked a blood trail to find the python with a grotesquely distended body, marking the sixth confirmed fatal python attack on adults in Indonesia since 2017 and proving these attacks continue to escalate.
The Attack: July 15, 2025
On the morning of July 15, 2025, La Noti left his home in his village in Southeast Sulawesi to tend to his livestock—a routine morning task he’d performed for decades. The livestock pen was located approximately 400 meters from his home, adjacent to forest vegetation in a rural agricultural area.
When La Noti failed to return by midday, his family grew concerned. His son went to check the livestock pen and made a horrifying discovery: signs of a struggle, scattered farming tools, and a blood trail leading into dense forest vegetation.
The family immediately alerted neighbors, and a search party of 20-30 villagers followed the blood trail approximately 80 meters into the forest. There they found a massive reticulated python with an enormously distended midsection, lying motionless in the undergrowth, unable to flee.
The Discovery and Recovery
The python was extraordinarily large—villagers estimated 18-20 feet in length based on measurement after killing it. The snake’s midsection was swollen to approximately 50cm in diameter, larger than any of the previous Indonesian python attack cases.
Villagers killed the python and carefully cut open its belly. Inside, they found La Noti’s body completely intact, fully clothed in his work clothes, positioned head-first deep within the python’s stomach. He had been dead for approximately 4-6 hours based on body temperature.
The blood trail that led searchers to the python likely came from the initial strike—python teeth penetrating skin and causing external bleeding before constriction began. This detail proved crucial in allowing rapid discovery, unlike previous cases where victims weren’t found for 12-24 hours.
Why La Noti’s Case Is Significant
La Noti’s death in 2025 carries multiple concerning implications for Indonesian communities:
1. Attacks Continue Despite Safety Measures
Following the deadly 2024 attacks (Farida and Siriati), Indonesian communities implemented aggressive safety protocols. Yet La Noti died despite these measures, proving that python predation is an ongoing, persistent threat that safety protocols can reduce but not eliminate.
2. Daytime Attack Breaks Pattern
All previous adult victims were attacked during evening or twilight hours. La Noti was killed in mid-morning—demonstrating that pythons will hunt humans during daylight hours, not just at dusk/night. This expands the danger window significantly and complicates safety protocols.
3. Attack Near Residence
La Noti was just 400 meters from his home, tending livestock in an area he used daily—not deep wilderness or remote plantation. This shows pythons are hunting in immediate proximity to human dwellings, not just remote forest areas.
4. First Elderly Male Victim
At 63, La Noti was the oldest victim and only the second male killed (after 25-year-old Akbar in 2018). While elderly, La Noti was likely of smaller frame and lighter weight than younger, larger-built men—reinforcing that size, not gender or age, determines python prey viability.
Reconstructing the Attack
Based on attack site evidence and the blood trail, wildlife experts reconstructed La Noti’s final moments:
Phase 1: The Ambush (Mid-Morning)
La Noti was feeding livestock in his pen, which was bordered by dense vegetation—perfect python habitat. The python was likely coiled in vegetation at the edge of the cleared area, concealed by the thick undergrowth.
As La Noti bent to pour feed or check on animals (vulnerable crouching position), the python struck. The strike likely targeted his upper body or neck, achieving a firm bite-hold. The initial bite penetrated skin, causing bleeding that would later create the crucial blood trail.
Immediately after the bite, the python coiled around La Noti’s torso and legs. Scattered farming tools suggest La Noti dropped everything as the python pulled him toward the forest edge, unable to resist the snake’s immense strength.
Phase 2: Constriction and Death (10-15 minutes)
The python dragged La Noti approximately 80 meters into the forest—far enough to avoid detection but close enough that the blood trail remained visible. There, the python completed constriction.
Python constriction kills via circulatory arrest and asphyxiation (detailed in animation/”>Anaconda Coiling Animation Tutorial). La Noti, at 63 with likely age-related cardiovascular vulnerabilities, may have died even faster than younger victims—possibly within 8-12 minutes.
Phase 3: Swallowing (3-5 hours)
After confirming La Noti’s death, the python positioned itself at his head and began the swallowing process. For detailed mechanics, see Python Jaw Animation Mechanics and How Pythons Swallow Prey Whole.
At an estimated 55-60 kg (120-130 pounds) and likely of smaller frame due to age and regional body type, La Noti was within the consumable range for an 18-20 foot python, though representing a substantial meal. The larger python size (compared to the 16-foot snakes that killed Jahrah, Farida, and Siriati) meant easier consumption despite La Noti being slightly heavier.
By the time searchers found the python 4-6 hours after the attack, swallowing was complete and the python had entered early digestive torpor—the reason it couldn’t flee when humans approached.
The Daytime Attack: Breaking the Twilight Pattern
La Noti’s mid-morning death represents the first confirmed adult human python predation during full daylight hours in Indonesia. This fundamentally changes risk assessment:
Previous Pattern: Evening/Twilight Attacks
All previous victims were attacked during low-light conditions:
- Wa Tiba (2017): Evening
- Akbar (2018): Afternoon into evening
- Jahrah (2022): Late evening
- Farida (2024): Evening
- Siriati (2024): Evening
This pattern suggested safety during daylight hours—advice commonly given to villagers.
New Reality: 24-Hour Threat
La Noti’s daytime death proves pythons will hunt humans during full daylight. Why?
- Hunger overrides behavior: Very hungry pythons may hunt outside normal nocturnal patterns
- Prey depletion: Lack of natural prey forces pythons to take risks (hunting in daylight)
- Opportunity hunting: If vulnerable prey presents itself during the day, pythons will strike
- Habitat compression: Pythons so close to human activity they encounter humans regardless of time
- Learned behavior: Successful daytime attacks may reinforce diurnal hunting
- March 2017 – Wa Tiba (54F, 105 lbs, Muna Island, 23ft python, evening, garden work)
- March 2018 – Akbar Salubiro (25M, 130 lbs, West Sulawesi, 23ft python, afternoon, palm oil harvest)
- June 2022 – Jahrah (54F, 103 lbs, Jambi Sumatra, 16ft python, evening, rubber tapping)
- June 2024 – Farida (45F, 105 lbs, South Sulawesi, 16ft python, evening, walking home)
- July 2024 – Siriati (36F, 110 lbs, South Sulawesi, 16ft python, evening, walking home)
- July 2025 – La Noti (63M, 125 lbs, Southeast Sulawesi, 18-20ft python, mid-morning, livestock feeding)
- Frequency acceleration: 2017-2021 (2 attacks) vs 2022-2025 (4 attacks) = doubling
- Gender distribution: 4 women, 2 men (67% female)
- Average victim age: 48 years old
- Average victim weight: 113 pounds
- Geographic concentration: All in Sulawesi or Sumatra
- Python size range: 16-23 feet (average 18.5 feet)
- Time of day: 5 evening/twilight, 1 mid-morning
- Success rate: 100% (all victims consumed completely)
- Intensive python hunt: Organized groups killed 15 large pythons (14-22 feet) within 5km radius of La Noti’s village
- Livestock area clearing: All vegetation within 10 meters of livestock pens and agricultural structures cleared
- Mandatory escorts for agricultural work: No one permitted to work alone in any outdoor area adjacent to vegetation
- Armed patrols: Groups of 3-4 men with machetes patrol village perimeter 24/7
- Python bounty program: Village leadership offered payment for python capture/kill (controversial)
- Emergency funding: $2 million allocated for python management and community protection
- Professional teams deployed: Trained snake handlers stationed in high-risk villages
- Research initiative: Partnership with Indonesian Institute of Sciences to study python behavior and attack patterns
- Long-term infrastructure plan: 5-year plan for alternative roads, trail lighting, habitat corridors
- National alert: Indonesian Ministry of Environment issued nationwide python safety advisory
- Rodent attraction: Livestock feed attracts rats and mice in large numbers
- Livestock as prey: Young chickens, ducks, goats are python prey
- Python hunting success: Livestock areas guarantee prey availability
- Cover availability: Livestock pens typically bordered by vegetation (python concealment)
- Predictable human activity: Pythons “learn” feeding times and human presence patterns
- Vulnerable human postures: Bending to fill feeders, crouching to check animals
- 10-meter cleared perimeter around all livestock pens (no vegetation)
- Elevated fencing (50cm high raised foundation prevents python concealment)
- Buddy system mandatory for all livestock care activities
- Lighting installation even for daytime use (improves python visibility)
- Weapons required: Machete or sturdy stick within arm’s reach during all work
- Regular python sweeps: Before entering livestock areas, check for pythons with long pole
- Communication devices: Cell phone or whistle mandatory
- Time limits: Minimize time spent in livestock areas, batch activities
- Constant hypervigilance: Every outdoor activity accompanied by fear and scanning for pythons
- Loss of autonomy: Simple tasks now require escorts, planning, coordination
- Economic disruption: Agricultural productivity down 20-30% as workers refuse solitary assignments
- Children’s development: A generation growing up confined, unable to explore nature
- Community fracture: Some families relocating, breaking generational village ties
- PTSD: Witnesses and family members suffering long-term psychological trauma
- Cultural loss: Traditional forest-based activities (foraging, hunting) abandoned
- Attack frequency: 2-4 fatalities per year
- Geographic expansion: Attacks spread to new provinces as habitat loss continues
- Victim profile expansion: Children and larger adults increasingly targeted as python hunger intensifies
- Economic collapse: Rural agricultural communities abandon traditional livelihoods
- Mass relocation: Entire villages forced to relocate away from python habitat
- Attack reduction: <1 fatality per 2-3 years through safety protocols and python management
- Geographic containment: Attacks limited to current high-risk zones
- Infrastructure success: Alternative roads, cleared areas, lighting reduce human-python encounters
- Habitat stabilization: Forest corridor preservation keeps pythons away from villages
- Community adaptation: New safety culture becomes normalized, risk accepted but managed
- Attack frequency: 1-2 fatalities per year (current rate continues)
- Incremental improvements: Some infrastructure built, some protocols adopted, but incomplete
- Selective abandonment: Highest-risk areas abandoned, moderate-risk areas remain inhabited
- Ongoing tension: Communities vs conservation groups over python management
- “New normal”: Python predation becomes accepted background risk like traffic accidents
This eliminates the “just avoid evening hours” safety advice. All hours now carry risk in high-python-density areas.
The Complete Indonesian Python Attack Database (2017-2025)
La Noti’s death brings the confirmed adult human python predation count to SIX in eight years:
Complete Chronological Record:
Statistical Analysis:
The trend is undeniable: python predation on humans in Indonesia is increasing in frequency and expanding in scope.
Community Response to La Noti’s Death
Southeast Sulawesi communities, already on high alert following the 2024 deaths, responded with immediate and aggressive measures:
Immediate Actions (July-August 2025)
Provincial Government Response
Following the sixth confirmed attack, Southeast Sulawesi provincial government was forced to acknowledge a systemic crisis:
Why Livestock Areas Are Dangerous
La Noti was killed while feeding livestock—an activity previously not considered high-risk. His death reveals that livestock pens and agricultural structures are python attractants:
Why Pythons Hunt Near Livestock
Similar to palm oil plantations (Akbar’s death) and rubber plantations (Jahrah’s death), livestock areas create ideal python-human conflict zones.
Safety Protocols for Livestock Areas
Following La Noti’s death, recommended safety measures include:
The Psychological Toll on Rural Indonesia
Six confirmed deaths in eight years has created pervasive fear across rural Sulawesi and Sumatra:
La Noti’s family—particularly his son who discovered the blood trail—will likely require long-term psychological support. The trauma of tracking his father’s blood trail to find him inside a python is unimaginable.
What Does the Future Hold?
La Noti’s 2025 death proves that python predation is not abating—it’s accelerating. Projections for 2025-2030:
Worst-Case Scenario (No Intervention)
Best-Case Scenario (Aggressive Intervention)
Likely Scenario (Partial Intervention)
Without substantial, sustained intervention, La Noti’s death will not be the last. The question is not IF another attack occurs, but WHEN and WHERE.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the python attack during daylight when previous attacks were all at dusk/night?
Several factors likely contributed to this daytime attack: (1) Extreme hunger—the python may have been very hungry due to prey scarcity, overriding normal nocturnal hunting patterns, (2) Opportunistic hunting—La Noti presented a vulnerable opportunity (crouching, distracted, alone) that the python couldn’t resist despite being daylight, (3) Habitat compression—pythons so close to human activity they encounter humans at all hours, (4) Behavioral adaptation—some individual pythons may hunt diurnally while most remain nocturnal. Importantly, this doesn’t mean daytime attacks will become common—La Noti’s case is still an outlier. However, it definitively proves daytime isn’t “safe” and that pythons CAN and WILL hunt humans during daylight under the right circumstances.
Could La Noti have survived if his son had arrived earlier?
Potentially yes, but only if arrival occurred within 5-10 minutes of the attack. Survival window analysis: (1) 0-3 minutes (attack phase): If the son arrived during initial strike/coiling, he could physically intervene—hit python with tools, pull father away before full constriction achieved. Success probability: 60-70%, (2) 3-10 minutes (full constriction): If arrived during constriction, would need to kill/severely injure python to force release. Even with release, La Noti may have already suffered fatal cardiac arrest. Success probability: 20-30%, (3) 10+ minutes (post-death): Too late for rescue, only recovery. By the time La Noti’s son discovered his absence (midday, several hours post-attack), La Noti had been dead for 4+ hours. The blood trail that led to discovery wasn’t visible from the livestock pen—required deliberate searching. Tragically, timing made rescue impossible.
Are Indonesian pythons becoming more aggressive toward humans, or is this just better documentation?
Evidence strongly suggests actual increase in predatory behavior, not just documentation improvement. Supporting evidence: (1) Frequency acceleration—2 attacks 2017-2021 vs 4 attacks 2022-2025 despite documentation quality being similar, (2) Geographic clustering—multiple attacks in same regions suggests environmental drivers, not random reporting, (3) Expert consensus—Indonesian herpetologists confirm attack rate increase based on community reports and patterns, (4) Environmental correlation—attack increase coincides with documented deforestation acceleration and prey population declines. However, documentation HAS improved: Cell phones, social media, international news coverage mean attacks no longer go unreported. Best assessment: Both factors at play—attacks ARE increasing (real environmental drivers) AND documentation is more complete, creating appearance of even steeper increase than reality. Actual increase is likely 100-150% (doubled/tripled), not the 300%+ that raw case counts suggest.
Should elderly people be prohibited from solitary outdoor work in python habitat?
This raises difficult ethical questions balancing autonomy vs safety. Arguments for restrictions: (1) La Noti’s death proves elderly at risk, (2) Age-related slower reaction time reduces escape/defense chances, (3) Cardiovascular vulnerabilities may accelerate constriction death, (4) Many elderly people living alone, increasing solitary work necessity. Arguments against restrictions: (1) Violates individual autonomy and dignity, (2) Economically devastating for elderly who depend on agricultural work, (3) Age alone doesn’t determine risk—size/build more relevant (small young women potentially higher risk than larger elderly men), (4) “Ban” is unenforceable in rural areas. Compromise approach: Not prohibition, but mandatory buddy system for everyone in high-risk areas, regardless of age. This protects elderly without singling them out, addresses the core issue (solitary activity), and remains somewhat enforceable through social pressure. Communities could organize buddy-matching systems to pair workers needing escorts.
Will Indonesian python attacks eventually stop as python populations decline from hunting pressure?
Unlikely to provide meaningful safety improvement for concerning reasons: (1) Remaining pythons will be hungrier—if python populations decline while prey is also scarce, surviving pythons face more starvation pressure, potentially INCREASING human predation attempts, (2) Selective pressure—hunting removes easiest-to-find pythons, selecting for more cryptic, cautious individuals potentially MORE dangerous to humans, (3) Habitat compression continues—even fewer pythons in even less habitat means same encounter density, (4) Python populations resilient—reticulated pythons have high reproductive rates and vast range; localized reduction doesn’t eliminate regional populations. More likely scenario: Attack rate remains stable at 1-2 per year even as overall python populations decline, because attacks are driven by habitat overlap and prey scarcity, not python abundance. Only comprehensive habitat management (corridors, prey restoration, infrastructure) will reduce attacks—python population reduction alone is insufficient.
Related Articles: Siriati Python Attack July 2024 | Farida Python Attack June 2024 | Akbar Python Attack 2018 | How Pythons Swallow Prey Whole
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