Baby Killed By a Snake.

[darroll]

How could the parents be blamed for this? I don’t see how they could.
Pythons just slink across the ground, they move very slow.
This snake was a pet that escaped, how awful.
Parents, watch your children.

[Lobo]

Is there a link so we can read the whole story?

[darroll]

Officials: Escaped pet python strangled Fla. child
Jul 1, 2009 (6:13p CDT)
By MIKE SCHNEIDER (Associated Press Writer)

OXFORD, Fla. - A 12-foot pet Burmese python broke out of a terrarium and strangled a 2-year-old girl in her bedroom Wednesday at a central Florida home, authorities said.

Shaunnia Hare was already dead when paramedics arrived at about 10 a.m., Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said.

Charles Jason Darnell, the snake's owner and the boyfriend of Shaunnia's mother, discovered the snake missing from its terrarium and went to the girl's room, where he found it on the girl and bite marks on her head, Caruthers said. Darnell, 32, stabbed the snake until he was able to pry the child away.

"The baby's dead!" a sobbing caller from the house screamed to a 911 dispatcher in a recording. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby."

Authorities did not identify the caller and removed the person's name from the recording.

"She got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death," the caller said.

Authorities removed the snake from the home Wednesday afternoon. Once outside the small, tan home, bordered by cow pastures, the snake was placed in a bag then inside a dog crate. The snake was still alive.

Darnell did not have a permit for the snake, which would be a second-degree misdemeanor, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He has not been charged, but Caruthers said investigators were looking into whether there was child neglect or if any other laws were broken.

Hill said the snake will be placed with someone who has a permit, pending an investigation into the girl's death.

The Humane Society of the United States said including Wednesday's death, at least 12 people have been killed in the U.S. by pet pythons since 1980, including five children.

Burmese pythons are not native to Florida, but they easily survive in the state and can reach a length of 26 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds.

Some owners have freed pythons into the wild and a population of them has taken hold in the Everglades. One killed an alligator and then burst when it tried to eat it. Scientists also speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing since.

"It's becoming more and more of a problem, perhaps no fault of the animal, more a fault of the human," said Jorge Pino, a state wildlife commission spokesman. "People purchase these animals when they're small. When they grow, they either can't control them or release them."

George Van Horn, owner of Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, said the strangulation could have occurred because the snake felt threatened or because it thought the child was food.

"They are always operating on instinct," he said. "Even the largest person can become overpowered by a python."

Oxford is about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.

___

Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky, Antonio Gonzalez and Lisa Orkin contributed to this report from Miami.

[Deb S]

How could the parents not be held liable for this? There have been cases of this happening. The cage should have absolutely been escape proof with a child in the house.

[darroll]

Well maybe you are right.
I'll give you this one.

Deb S said:

How could the parents not be held liable for this? There have been cases of this happening. The cage should have absolutely been escape proof with a child in the house.

[Lobo]

As horrible as this sounds, I have to say this: The snake was only doing what snakes do. They eat and then they sleep. Since they are cold blooded they will move in and out of the sun to regulate their body temperature but usually they lie still. When they are hungry they move out to find food. The snake was able to get out of the cage. One does NOT keep a twelve foot python in a terrium. They must be kept in an escape-proof container. This container was not escape-proof.
Why did the snake leave the cage? It was either trying to find a way to regulate its heat or it was looking for something to eat. Since there were bite marks on the child's head we have to assume that the snake was looking for food.
The owner of this snake obviously didn't know enough about snakes to have one this large as a "pet." He didn't keep it penned up and isolated and he didn't have a license to keep the snake. He was too cheap to get a permit. That tells me that he was probably too cheap to make sure the cage was adequate for the snake's needs.
And where does this mother get off allowing her boy-friend to keep a twelve foot snake in their house. That thing was big enought that if it wanted to, it could have killer her as well as the child. Even if it was his house and she and the baby had moved in, she should have said, "I'll move in after the snake is moved out!"
Who's to blame for this--the snake isn't at fault. It was simply doing what all snakes do. You can't blame the baby. Who's left?
Who illegally kept thesnake without getting the required license or permit? Who allowed the baby to live in a potentially dangerous environment?
This is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to this poor mother. And I'll let the judicial system decide if there is someone to blame and who that someone is and what consequences they will have to pay.

[Boothby171]

I didn't realize that anyone made "escape proof" cages.

Having been a snake owner as a youth, and having friends--even now, as an adult--who (on more than one occasion) have said, "Boothby, can you help us find our snake, it's gotten out again?" any intelligent person realizes that:

1) There are no "escape proof cages," and

2) Don't keep any deadly pets.

This is another case of adults being morons, and their children suffering for it.


Deb S said:

How could the parents not be held liable for this? There have been cases of this happening. The cage should have absolutely been escape proof with a child in the house.

[brujo]

Jesus. I don't get snake people AT ALL. But let's do the math. 8 1/2 foot Burmese Python plus a two year old. That was a disaster waiting to happen. That said, how tragic was this?

[darroll]

I have a hard time taking it out of my mind as it's so sad.

brujo said:

Jesus. I don't get snake people AT ALL. But let's do the math. 8 1/2 foot Burmese Python plus a two year old. That was a disaster waiting to happen. That said, how tragic was this?

[Deb S]

Boothby171 said:

I didn't realize that anyone made "escape proof" cages.

Having been a snake owner as a youth, and having friends--even now, as an adult--who (on more than one occasion) have said, "Boothby, can you help us find our snake, it's gotten out again?" any intelligent person realizes that:

1) There are no "escape proof cages," and

2) Don't keep any deadly pets.

This is another case of adults being morons, and their children suffering for it.


Deb S said:

How could the parents not be held liable for this? There have been cases of this happening. The cage should have absolutely been escape proof with a child in the house.

So, Boothby, since I did not realize that there are no escape proof cages, does that make me unintelligent? Perhaps it is more due to inexperience with snakes than lack of intelligence.

[Yoodle]

Deb S said:

Boothby171 said:

I didn't realize that anyone made "escape proof" cages.

Having been a snake owner as a youth, and having friends--even now, as an adult--who (on more than one occasion) have said, "Boothby, can you help us find our snake, it's gotten out again?" any intelligent person realizes that:

1) There are no "escape proof cages," and

2) Don't keep any deadly pets.

This is another case of adults being morons, and their children suffering for it.


Deb S said:

How could the parents not be held liable for this? There have been cases of this happening. The cage should have absolutely been escape proof with a child in the house.

Many people get rid of canine and feline pets when they have small children around who may get scratched, bit, or sat upon. I don't get reptilian pets, either, especially if I am so easily mistaken for a heat source and/or food. Why not just have chickens? Then YOU can eat THEM!

[darroll]

Great Point...

Jenelle Anderson said:

Deb S said:

Boothby171 said:

I didn't realize that anyone made "escape proof" cages.

Having been a snake owner as a youth, and having friends--even now, as an adult--who (on more than one occasion) have said, "Boothby, can you help us find our snake, it's gotten out again?" any intelligent person realizes that:

1) There are no "escape proof cages," and

2) Don't keep any deadly pets.

This is another case of adults being morons, and their children suffering for it.


Deb S said:

How could the parents not be held liable for this? There have been cases of this happening. The cage should have absolutely been escape proof with a child in the house.

Many people get rid of canine and feline pets when they have small children around who may get scratched, bit, or sat upon. I don't get reptilian pets, either, especially if I am so easily mistaken for a heat source and/or food. Why not just have chickens? Then YOU can eat THEM!

[Wylde Abandyn]

I'm not a parent, but I'm a paranoid freak, so if I WERE a parent, there wouldn't be any damn pythons or pit bulls or anything of the sort in the house. Might as well keep a loaded gun in the crib and assume that it won't go off by accident.