A WILD python swallowed about 400 ducks in three weeks in Shaoguan, costing two farmers more than 10,000 yuan, local media reported yesterday.The python was seized by farmers Liu Shougui and his brother Liu Shouda when it returned for another duck dinner.Knowing that the reptile was on the State’s protection list, they handed the 41.5 kg python over to the local forestry bureau, which estimated the python was about 200 years old and of great value for research.The brothers said they had raised more than 500 ducks at a cost of 100,000 yuan at the beginning of this year. They found duck numbers were diminishing daily since July. A lot of farmers in the northern part of Guangdong Province, where about two-fifths of the its wild animals live, have had the same experience, the paper said. According to officials with Shaoguan wild animals management department, the State should have paid compensation to the victims in this case. But there were difficulties in some poor areas in carrying out the policy. They said they would try to help the brothers and appeal to authorities to draw up detailed regulations as soon as possible that deal with compensation for losses caused by wild animals.(Vivian Li)