AS Speaker of the Northern Territory Parliament, Kezia Purick often has to step in and halt some argy-bargy on the floor of the house.
But she never anticipated having to separate a python from one of her prized chooks.
Ms Purick, from Holtze near Darwin, went to lock up the chooks one night recently and found the 1.6m python squeezing the life out of her silky bantam. "The poor thing was down to its last feather," she told NT News.
"I thought: 'You bastard'."
The chook (also pictured left) was still alive so she put her foot on the snake's head and unwrapped it.
With the python still under her gumboot, Kezia lifted the hen's beak open, gave it mouth to mouth and it came to life.
She then popped the python in a pillow case and called the snake catcher to pick it up.
Being that feisty, she'd make the perfect Speaker for the rough house that is Federal Parliament.
