Digging the road, workers encountered a giant Anaconda with a 'strange tumor'!

Without surgery, the anaconda would have died from swallowing this whole.

Anaconda or South American python (genus Eunectes) is one of the largest snakes in the world, can be up to 9 meters long, equal in length to the reticulated python (Python reticulatus) and weigh up to 250 kg.

Because their preferred habitat is swamps and humid forests, it is normal for humans to appear here and often encounter these giant creatures.

In February 2014, in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, construction crews were working to build a new road to make transportation easier. However, the difficult terrain and lack of trucks made it difficult to get materials to the site, and the constant dangers of the rainforest slowed the progress of the project.

One day, while the construction crew was shoveling the road with an excavator, one of them suddenly saw a giant python slithering out from the bushes. Before them was an Anaconda. Unlike any other python, this Anaconda was the biggest they had ever seen!

What is that strange "tumor"?

Not yet overcome with fear of the largest creature on the planet, they quickly felt something unusual on the python's body: a giant tumor.

Anaconda is actually quite shy and avoids people, so when they see people, they usually move quickly to hide. But this python is not like that. It crawls very slowly. Sometimes it opens its mouth to defend itself.

The python moved very slowly, occasionally opening its mouth in defense.

Knowing that road construction in the area would inevitably bring up forest creatures, one of them knew the snake was in trouble. Perhaps it had come out to ask for help.

A worker approached the python despite the warnings of his teammates. Strangely, the python seemed to be in so much pain from the tumor that it lay motionless.

The python seemed to be in so much pain from the tumor that it lay motionless.

The crew immediately contacted the local veterinarian. When the veterinarian opened the animal to find out what was causing the tumor, no one could believe what they saw.

Upon arriving at the scene, the veterinarian said that the python was most likely pregnant, and was probably about to give birth in the middle of the newly dug road. To confirm this suspicion, the veterinarian assigned the workers the dangerous task of moving the python so that the veterinarian could examine the tumor.

The vet then decided that the anaconda needed immediate surgery because there was an object stuck in the entrance to its stomach. The object was something the anaconda had swallowed and could not be broken down by its digestive system.

The doctor temporarily injected the python with an anesthetic and asked the work team to move the python to a flatter place.

This was not the first time this man had performed a procedure like this, but he was still very nervous because the current situation was that the veterinarian was not in a clinic but in the middle of the jungle. Anything could happen here.

With utmost precision and care, the veterinarian dissected the python and removed the giant "tumor". When they looked at it, everyone couldn't believe their eyes. It was a plastic ice chest!

Ice box.

While the doctor was confused as to why the python had swallowed this object, the team of workers understood the problem.

This icebox is where they put ice to preserve most perishable foods. Because of the difficult and long distance travel, they stored meat in this plastic box. However, due to the hot weather, the meat spoiled and smelled.

It is possible that the Anaconda smelled the meat and thought it was an animal carcass, so it swallowed it whole.

After removing the ice bucket, the vet quickly stitched up the snake's wound and hoped it would survive the situation. After the anesthesia wore off, the snake began to move and slowly slithered towards the jungle.

In an effort to preserve the anaconda, the doctor implanted a tiny tracking chip into the snake to ensure that it survived the accident.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), there are four species of anaconda in South America that are classified as vulnerable. This is due to habitat loss in some areas of their range (due to human agriculture, which depletes wetland habitats); and hunting.