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dirtydog

A pet python broke out of its holding tank and strangled a two-year-old girl in the bedroom of her home in Florida, local authorities said.

The 8ft (2.5m) albino Burmese python had also bitten Shaiunna Hare on her forehead several times.

Charles Darnell, the snake's owner and boyfriend of Shaiunna's mother, stabbed the python and prised the child away, but she died before paramedics arrived.

Authorities removed the snake from the home after obtaining a search warrant.

Officials said Mr Darnell did not have a permit for the snake. He could face child endangerment or other charges.

Everglades breeding

According to police, Mr Darnell said he had put the snake in a bag in an aquarium container on Tuesday night, but awoke the next morning to find it missing.

Bobby Caruthers, from the sheriff's office in Sumter County, central Florida, said Mr Darnell "ran immediately to the infant's room" and discovered "the snake on the child".

"He also said he observed bite marks on the forehead of the child," Mr Caruthers said.

Wildlife officials say they are growing increasingly concerned by the proliferation of pythons in the Florida wilderness.

It is believed that some have been released by pet owners who can no longer care for them.

The snakes are breeding in the Everglades, where they have no natural predators.

Burmese pythons can reach a length of 16ft (5m) and live for 30 years.

The US Humane Society told Associated Press news agency that at least 12 people have been killed in the US by pet pythons since 1980, including five children.

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kingwilly

RIP

tjyflhol

I guess some people just think pets and toddlers mix and don't see the problem. They don't seem to think that bit further that the pet they are keeping is an 8 ft long predator which is built to solely eat toddler sized mammals.

Snakes are notorious for escaping their enclosures, far too risky to keep one of this size with small children in the house.

Loy Toy

What a terrible tradgedy.

Must have been a terrible way to die and may she rest in peace!

jim1176

very reckless, sad outcome

TexasRanger

How the fark can anyone thinking that keeping pythons and babies in the same house is a good idea? Some people are just so retarded. Sorry for the kid.

Sakeopete

Same can be said for dogs, far more children are injured or killed by them. But hey dogs are cute and furry.

tsicar

agreed

i think pythons are far cuter than dogs.
stunning and fascinating animals, and they don't bark or make demands on humans.
most people who do not actively seek them out, or accidentally happen upon one in the wild or in the chicken coop, will never get to see one, even though they are all around you in thailand.
you may share a house with a snake for years without ever meeting up with it, and once you do, and you kill it, you and your family ll be at far higher risk via disease etc from the rats and mice which will take its place, than you ever were from the snake.
normally, no snake will seek out a human to attack or eat, and their shared presence in an human environment should be welcomed for the benefits it brings.
pray what, if any benefit does a starving, mangy thai soidog bring to society?
(apologies to nr, just trying to make a point here)

somtamslap

^ some people don't enter the world with the necessary brain furniture unfortunately.

So sorry for the child and her family...it's a worst nightmare at best.

Butterfly

looks like typical American trash,

keeping guns, snake and kids at proximity,

fucking idiot, I hope he gets to go in jail and get ass raped for being so stupid

poor girl

Humbert

I knew someone would inject nationalism into this tragic thread. One track minds

Mr Brown

What a reassuring thread

I've got Burmese Pythons crawling all around the place here; 2 chickens dead, 1 python shot last night - still one on the loose.

Loy Toy

Exactly and the same goes for cats.

Cats have been known to get into cots with very young babies and unintentionally smoother them. They look for the very soft, warm places and unfortunately many babies have been suffocated.

Sometimes pets and very young children do not mix but unfortunately some people never see the danger unti it is too late.

S Landreth

I have read that some people have been letting their exotic animals go into the Florida Everglades when they get to where they can not handle or want them any longer. Not a good idea.

From a story in the Miami Herald today (pictures of the python):

In the past two years, the Miami Metrozoo has worked with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Nonnative Pet Amnesty Day -- when owners can turn in their exotic pets, no questions asked. So far it has collected about 250 animals -- including baby iguanas, pythons and an African wildcat known as a serval.

And

On Wednesday came the worst incident in a decade: a 2-year-old girl killed after a Burmese python escaped from its cage, then clenched its teeth into her head.
Poor child.

Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1123803.html

And a video of an African Wildcat (Serval,………..this is not your Hello Kitty type)


YouTube - Nice Kitty - African Serval Wildcat

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Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Bexar County Stud

That's absolute rubbish - there's never been a verified case of this happening, yet the myth persists, due to ancient beliefs about cats being symbols of evil, etc.

"Cats have been known..." LOL, yes, known in myth.

It's a good idea to not allow pets to have unsupervised access to infants/small kids.
But the stuff about cats smothering babies is garbage, dude.

tjyflhol

Myth, rumour, and absolute facts get strangely mixed up in LT's world.

Though cats will suck the breath out of an infant's mouth, I saw it in a film once.

crippen

All pussy's are dangerous. They can suck your money right out of your pocket!

tsicar

yes, and i have personal experience of waking up with pussy all over my face.

one isolated incident of a (probably starved) python eating a kid, and now the poor bloody things have to be hunted and killed. that tosser who used this incident and the emotion he might stir up as a reason to try get the everglades rid of burmese pythons probably stands to make a buck out of it, somewhere along the line.
if, as an alien invader species, it needs to be controlled to preserve indigenous wildlife, then so be it.
why doesn't he just call for the extermination of alligators? surely a large one would be just as likely to consider a two year old kid to be a tasty snack?
burmese pythons were very common in the part of isaan where i lived, and there did not seem to be any cases of them eating the natives' kids.
NOT dangerous animals.
wild animals kept in captivity have to be managed properly, and a snake CAN NEVER BE TAMED!
they can get used to being handled, but never tamed.
my pet boa, if not handled regularly (about every three days, minimum) would bite the shit out of me, and so did the burmese pythons i kept in thailand.
the "incident" was an isolated and unfortunate accident, and the animal should not be vilified for doing what comes naturally to any hungry animal.

it's kinda like a loaded gun.
guns are not dangerous, only irresponsible gun owners.

same can be said for owners of dogs. i am willing to bet that for every one toddler eaten by a python, there will be at least 500 killed by dogs (EXTREMELY conservative estimate, since i have no idea of the figures). -not a reason to lobby for the elimination of all pet dogs, though, is it?

Mr R Sole

Should've had a Boa constrictor instead, they're far less bitey...hindsight's a bugger...

But seriously an awful trajedy for the child and mther and relatives...

Having Boa's (not to be confused with Burmese Pythons) myself before..roaming around my house!!! but no kids..at that time..I would say they recognised me my wife my dog..and posed no threat to us whatsoever....the rats I kept for food weren't as lucky....
personally I love snakes and well 'all creatures great and small'

A 8ft Python would look at a 2yr old as about the right size for food...then again some kids in America are huge....so maybe the kid could've eaten the snake.

A truely sad event for both family and snake...as now no doubt the snake will be destroyed....because of the incompatencey of the keeper...

Also a point made earlier...Animals and kids don't mix...I was brought from a baby with a dog that never left my side, and protected me all his life (RIP)

Yet there are many tragic stories about family dogs savaging kids...cats sitting on the mouths of kids and them suffocating

now that's a stuffed snake!! Can't tell if this is a fake photo or not...

All animals are dangerous....just look at mosquito's...tiny but deadly...

blackgang

But Notice what he wrote, he also likes it up the ass from what he says, so was a correct place for him to post it.
Gives him a warm fuzzy feeling just thinking about it.