A 16-foot python stalked a family's pet dog for days before swallowing it whole in front of horrified children.

The scrub python devoured the silky terrier-chihuahua cross in Queensland, Australia.

Stuart Douglas, owner of the Australian Venom Zoo, said he was called by a woman "quite concerned about her dog being eaten by about a five, six-metre scrub python."

But the the python had already "half-consumed the dog" by the time he arrived.

Mr Douglas said: "The reason why it wasn't just released straight back into the wild is because, well it couldn't be released, there's a huge amount of food there and it could do quite an amount of damage to the snake, moving it."

The python is still digesting the dog at Mr Douglas's zoo but it will then be relocated in the bush.

Mr Douglas said scrub pythons normally eat wild animals such as wallabies but turn to pets in urban areas.

He said: "They used to be really, really common throughout North Queensland and they grew to a massive size and they used to feed upon wallabies in the plains, but basically they are all houses now and so there's only cats and dogs."

Mr Douglas said the python actively stalked the dog for a number of days.

He said the family that owned the dog had seen the python in the dog's bed three or four days earlier, which was a sure sign it was out to get it.

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