Greta is 22, and has been handling snakes since she was five years old. She works for an aquarium in Florida where she takes care of the snake exhibits, including a 14-foot Burmese python we’ll call Clyde.

On this day, Greta opens Clyde’s cage for the purpose of feeding him. This feeding is a public exhibition, and hundreds of tourists gather around to watch.

No doubt Clyde is ready for lunch, but he seems unwilling to wait for Greta to feed him. Instead, Clyde decides he’ll have Greta for lunch. With that apparent thought, Clyde sinks his teeth into Greta’s wrist and wraps himself around her arm and her waist. Remember, Clyde is a nonvenomous snake—still, a bite is a bite.

Most of the tourists retreat in a hurry, although a few of them volunteer to help aquarium employees free Greta from the python’s grip. Clyde resists mightily—he does not want to give up today’s lunch special.

The python is trying, with all his might, to pull Greta into his cage so he can dine without interruption. Although rescuers are unable to get Clyde to release Greta, they are able to prevent the python from dragging her into his cage.

Pretty soon, local cops arrive, and with permission from the aquarium’s owner, they use a Taser gun on the giant snake. With two Taser barbs imbedded in Clyde’s skin, he soon releases Greta.

Some of the tourists are critical of the use of a Taser gun on an animal, but the python’s owner points out that "it was either the Taser or we’d have to kill it."

The owner says Clyde was always his favorite animal, "but not anymore." The noontime feeding exhibition is cancelled until further notice, aquarium officials told the Associated Press.

After her rescue Greta said this was her "most painful and scariest experience ever."

It’s important for you to know that no animals were injured during the writing of this column.