Watch: Teacher captures massive 17ft anaconda after it ate his friend’s dog

A maths teacher waded into a shallow river and captured a 17ft anaconda hours after it snatched his friend’s dog from the bank.

Sebastien Bascoules, who lives in Matoury, French Guiana, hauled the 175lb snake onto land in nearby Montsinery, after a friend phoned him with news of his beloved pet, Minus.

Capturing a snake that size, the 39-year-old said, was  ‘a dream come true’.

Recalling the incident, Mr Bascoules said: ‘At first I was not scared because I thought it was smaller – but I was very surprised by his strength and his length – more than five metres.

He added: ‘Since I was 10 years old I have liked handling reptiles but this was the biggest snake I had ever seen and I had ever caught.’

Mr Bascoules asked his friend to help capture the anaconda, by grabbing its tail, ‘otherwise it could strangulate me’.

Mr Bascoules, right, holds the anaconda’s head as he and his friend drag it from a river in French Guiana

But because it was still digesting the dog, Mr Bascoules said, it was  ‘very calm before I touched it’.

After blindfolding the wriggling reptile with a t-shirt Mr Bascoules put it in his bathtub to store over night – but not before his three children, Noam, 11, Solal, eight, and Mano, five, could pose for pictures with it.

Mr Bascoules brave son, Mano, five, puts his ear to the belly of the beast

Mr Bascoules said by the time he had captured the snake, it was too late to re-home it away from the residential area, so he decided it could spend the night at his family home.

The snake was kept in the Bascoules family’s bath over night as Mr Bascoules said it was too late to re-home the reptile away from the residential area once they had captured it

Not everyone was a fan of the house guest, he said: ‘My wife was worried it might escape from the bathroom during the night.

He added: ‘We didn’t have to be worried because I put it a cloth on his head so it was blind and became like a big worm.’

Mr Bascoules holds the anaconda’s tail as his children, from left, Noam, Solol and Mano, sit around the snake, and Michael Bascoules stands behind it, to complete the novel family photo

The next day Mr Bascoules released the anaconda six miles away into a river close to swamps where the creatures are often found.

The incredible event unfolded last year but video of the remarkable capture and release exercise has only just emerged.

Mr Bascoules, originally from France, has lived in French Guiana for 15 years, and works part-time as a tour guide. He said he chose the area because of its fauna – particularly reptiles and amphibians.

Mr Bascoules said snakes were ‘really common’ in French Guiana, where there is 98 species.

Not surprisingly, this isn’t the first time Mr Bascoules has captured an anaconda. He estimates he’s caught 15-20.