The scene that greeted nurse Anna Boon when she returned to her home on the outskirts of Sai Kung was like something from a movie.
Under a bright midwinter sun, domestic helpers were running from house to house shrieking in alarm. One neighbour, a former police officer, had armed himself with a knife and a small crowd were aiming cameras at some bushes. Boon then spotted the cause of the chaos. Coiled beneath a fern and lying just a couple of metres from a girl's pink bicycle was a large Burmese python, its distinctive black and brown markings shining in the sunlight.
'Its head was big as my fist,' says Boon. 'It was curled up and very quiet. It was just watching us. I don't think I was scared. In fact, it was a real treat to see it. It was absolutely beautiful.'
Impressive as it was, Boon's neighbours did not want it living in their garden. They called the police, who arrived at the scene with local snake catcher David Willott.
The snake was strong and Willott, assisted by a policeman, spent several minutes wrestling with it. He held its head and steered it into a cloth sack while the other man hung on to the tail-end to prevent the snake wrapping itself around Willott.
For one frightening moment, the snake appeared to have got the upper hand, knocking Willott to the ground as it attempted to free itself. As it lay uncoiled the full size of the snake became apparent. It was about 4 metres long, with a powerful jaw large enough to swallow a medium-sized dog.
There was a collective sigh of relief when Willott finally bagged the snake. For the residents, it had been a reminder of the wilds beyond their doorstep and a fascinating encounter with Hong Kong's biggest predator. But for Willott it was the moment he decided his days of catching pythons were over. 'I'll catch other snakes but no more pythons. They've been picking on the python for too long,' he says.