Burmese Kills 2 YO in Florida

[gonesnakee]

More positive press for Herpers due to unworthy Boid owner Mark

Burmese Python Kills Young Girl In Sumter County - County By County News Story - WFTV Orlando (http://www.wftv.com/countybycounty/19915016/detail.html)

I was going to quote it all but will not due to "legal" issues stated at the bottom of the articles.

[gonesnakee]

8.5-Foot Python Strangles Toddler - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando (http://www.clickorlando.com/news/19914383/detail.html)

[sassamagoo]

What a shame that happened, but dang, all the comments are so frustrating!

"There should never be a snake in a home with a child, EVER!"

I guess I'm a horrible parent, even though my BABY boa is in a locked cage, far from my son's room (with his door closed).

It's sad of course, no one wants to hear about an innocent child being killed. If that was my child...... ugh, I can't imagine. But it was clearly an irresponsible owner issue. The owner even stated the snake had gotten out of its enclosure very recently (the wednesday before I believe it said). Wouldn't you take care of that kind of problem with that large of a snake immediately?

As Mark said, "More positive press for herpers".

Ugh. Sad.

Sass

[Smilts]

messed up I cant figure how people let these things happen!! Its as easy as shutting a door and keeping the cage latched!!

[gonesnakee]

Yep last time I checked snakes couldn't open doors.
Even in the case of escaping its enclosure a closed door would have Prevented this incident. All my snakes live in 2 rooms & guess what both doors are closed.
Largest snake I have ver had get out is 4ft & they can't get out of the room.
The vents & air returns are screened for smaller stuff that would fit thru them otherwise, plus a runner on the doors. Its pretty straight forward mark
P.S. Controlled & Contained ;)

[Will0W783]

I have a very similar setup as you do Mark. I have all my snakes in one room, and the air vents are closed off for climate control and to keep the snakes out of them if they escape. How could someone be so flippant about their children's AND the animal's safety. Even if it didn't go after anyone, an escaped snake can injure itself pretty badly. Some people just should not have animals. But it's a shame; more negative press and people will be on the rampage about how bad all snakes are, etc etc. BS

[Kmef07]

wow that is crazy!!! people never cease to amaze me on how dumb they are. The human race is really weird because we have some of the stupidest people and others that are very intelligent and genius. I dunno but people like the ones in the articles are the type of people that make the world a worse place.

[ballpythongirl]

I know. What an irresponsible owner. It makes me so mad that this stupid owner didn't even have a licence to own th snake!!! It also fustrates me that situations such as this one make snakes look like horrible creatures. I feel absolutely terrible about what happened and I hope the owner gets life for it.

[mps725]

This sounds like a severe case of underfeeding for a Python to size up a 2 year old.

[Will0W783]

Yep, and the guy said it had gotten out earlier that week- what a moron- he should have checked the cage and secured it, and he should never have left the door to the room the snake was in open.

[gonesnakee]

This sounds like a severe case of underfeeding for a Python to size up a 2 year old.

Not nessicarily. I have had well fed Pythons try to take me on before & I'm 6'2" 230lbs ;)
All it takes is for something to set it off into "food mode" for something to happen at times.
This is a case of pisspoor ownership for a multitude of reasons.
The main 2 rules being controlled & contained & this snake was neither. Mark

[C#@$e]

I hate that people never have anything good to say about snake and once something like this happens the news goes crazy... this kinda stuff doesnt happen that often and if the guy would of had a secure enclosore this would not of occured. this is tragic that the little girl is dead becuase thats as old as my sister...i would be devastated if that happened to me, but he should of had something better than a quilt, but who am i to judge he mait of not had the money to haave a proper enclosore... soo i just wish the news would point out that this kind of stuff happens rarely... thats why some people are so scared of snake, becuase of all the negitive press that goes around...

[siz]

If he didn't have the money for a proper enclosure there is no way in hell he should have had that snake. It's a giant python. Judgement passed.

[Will0W783]

I totally agree with you Siz. It's no joking matter- that's a BIG snake, and ANY snake should be properly secured, not matter its size.

[siz]

And I'm not trying to specifically argue with you, Chase, but if you had several hundred dollars to buy the thing, you should be able to afford to house it as well...pisses me off. Now they are proposing the python ban and it is pretty much a direct result of this incident..

[gonesnakee]

And I'm not trying to specifically argue with you, Chase, but if you had several hundred dollars to buy the thing, you should be able to afford to house it as well...pisses me off. Now they are proposing the python ban and it is pretty much a direct result of this incident..

The Python ban was proposed LONG before this incident.
Its a direct result of MANY MANY IDIOTS to put it bluntly.
People buy up cheap Burms as babies & then dump them in a year or 2 once they don't feel like having them around anymore. Mark

[siz]

You are right. I guess they are just pushing this as far as it can go and are using this incident and fuel for their fire. The whole thing is a time bomb of bullcrap.

[siz]

Then there is this. Mark, I know you have already read this but I'm posting for everyone else.

"the Python 'Posse'"

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR (Boston, Massachusetts) 15 July 09 'Python posse' set to hunt Florida snakes. Is it overkill? (Patrik Jonsson)
Atlanta: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is convening the nation's first "python posse," an extraordinary hunt to cull a population of up to 150,000 slithering beasts from state lands and, potentially, Everglades National Park.
The bounty hunt proposal comes after the recent death of a Florida toddler by an escaped pet python and a congressional hearing last week where Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) unrolled a 17-foot skin from a python captured in the Everglades.
Senator Nelson says it's just a matter of time before a python of similar size attacks a tourist in the Everglades.
"There's one way to do this: kill the snakes," Nelson told The Miami Herald in an e-mail.
To be sure, a hunt for feral snakes in the "river of grass" responds to many peoples' primal and mythical fear of snakes and other man-eating animals, especially non-native ones.
The Burmese python, which can grow to 20 feet and is known to eat alligators, established a wild population in the 1990s after being released by humans who'd kept them as pets.
But is killing the pythons really the right answer?
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the animal rights group, says no.
"This is the alligator in the New York City sewer times 100,000, and all this could have been avoided by common-sense legislation," says Martin Mersereaux, a spokesman for PETA in Norfolk, Va. "It's not these snakes' fault that they're proliferating, and now we have a massacre at hand."
PETA plans to write a letter to US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who will ultimately have to approve any python hunt in a national park. The letter will call for a ban on exotic pets in the US and assurances that a hunt will be humane, since snakes are notoriously difficult to kill without causing suffering.
But what do snake experts have to say about the legitimacy of a first-ever US python hunt?
Harry Greene has loved snakes since he was a kid growing up in Texas, then followed his passion to become an ecology professor and resident snake expert at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
Dr. Greene's view as a pro-snakes guy: A hunt is sad for animals unlikely to claim human victims. But in the end, it's probably necessary. Over the years, pythons have killed 12 people in the US.
The greatest danger, he says, is to both common and sensitive species in the park, including rare wood rats, Florida panthers, birds, and even alligators – who are hunted in Florida outside the Everglades National Park.
"It doesn't trouble me personally," says Greene. "If there's good evidence that management is needed and if a bounty hunt is the most efficient way to do that, I'm all for it. I don't think [the risk to humans] is hyperbole, though I think it's very low."
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says as many as 20 professional trappers could be ready within a week to capture and kill snakes on state lands. It will be a humane hunt, the commission's chairman, Rodney Barreto, told The Miami Herald. A separate hunt in the Everglades, where most of the snakes live, is also in the works.
"This is not the wild, wild West. These people will be licensed, trained, and managed by us," Mr. Barreto told the Herald.
'Python posse' set to hunt Florida snakes. Is it overkill? | csmonitor.com (http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0716/p02s01-usgn.html)