Python Strangles 2-Year-Old To Death

(AP) -- A 2-year-old girl was strangled by a 12-foot Burmese python Wednesday inside a central Florida home, authorities said.

The snake was a family pet, not one of a fast-growing population of nonnative pythons that has been spreading in the wild in southern Florida.

Lt. Steve Binegar, of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, said the toddler was strangled by the snake in the town of Oxford, about 50 miles northwest of Orlando. Pythons can kill by wrapping themselves around a human. Paramedics said the girl was dead when they arrived at about 10 a.m. EDT. Authorities did not release the girl's name.

Sheriff's officials told the Orlando Sentinel that the snake broke out of a glass aquarium overnight, went to the girl's bedroom and attacked her. The owner found the snake wrapped around the girl and stabbed it while others called 911. It wasn't immediately known if the snake was killed. The newspaper said the snake slithered away and was missing.

Jorge Pino, a spokesman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said that pythons are not native to Florida and can easily grow to 10 or 12 feet long. He also said owners need a license to possess a python in the state.

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 exploded 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,'' Pino said. ''People purchase these animals when they're small. When they grow, they either can't control them or release them.''

Comments

[JenniferWest]

What a horrific story. These parents should be prosecuted. I have a 2 yr old. I don't have a lion for a pet! I have a house cat. That's a proper pet! These parents endangered their child, causing her death. They should have to face severe consequences!

[SmooPaige]

I have 3 Children and 3 snakes. 2 Albino Burmese and one Sumatran Red Blood. My largest is 10 feet. You can have any animal you choose that is legal but you have to be responsible! My husband does not allow anyone to handle the snakes unless he is around, he also has a dead bolt on the homemade tank built for them, this is being responsible. The parents did cause this childs death, it is NEVER the animals fault. They should be prosecuted for their stupidity.

[Tampabayallstar]

Its unusual to see a headline story about a snake without a right wing radio talk show host in the article.

[sunnybunny]

I've had nightmares about this kind of thing since I was a kid (30 years ago, I saw my first really big snake a 23 ft python someone brought to school for show and tell in the 6th grade) but have never heard of it actually happening despite the logical possibility of it (if they could eat a large dog, couldn't they eat a small child?) Well, now it has. That's just terrible. People just don't think

[iSeeDumbPeople]

My husband and I were house hunting last summer, and saw a home where the owners had one of these things in a 55-gallon aquarium. We were going to call animal control and complain for the sheer cruelty of leaving such a large beast in such cramped living quarters, but forgot. How often do the owners actually take these beasts out and feed them? And what are they feeding them? At 12-feet long, and probably a foot in diameter, I am not surprised that a little toddler looked like a meal. I am disgusted with these parents. This girl should not have lost her life.

PREDATORS ARE NOT PETS.

[rickyjimmy]

i propose a test:

Question 1: you have a 2 year old, do you think it's okay to get an attack dog or / python snake?

If you answer yes then you don't get to reproduce.

[jamesmac10]

Well said rickyjimmy. some animals and children can be a deadly mix. get a clue parents.

[SmooPaige]

You should not have been produced with that kind of thinking! If people are responsible, if they take the time and do the right thing, these things would not happen PERIOD!

[Melchedekan]

Maybe this is a lesson that GIANT SNAKES let alone ANY SNAKES should not be unnaturally harbored as "pets" when what they really are are wild predators who are supposed to be living in forests in the wild. Stupid humans.

[poster1122]

Ok, people are going over-the-top hysterical here.

While I question the wisdom of keeping pythons as pets, it should be noted that this is the first death of a child that I know of in years. The number of incidences appear to be so small that it's difficult to find any statistics in google.

Contrast that to the number of people who die from dog attacks yearly who are mostly children: around 20. Or from things like hitting their head on a sharp un-babyproofed edge, or drowning in a bucket of water or in those inflatable pools.

Whenever a child dies, it's tragic, but people need to take a step back here and realize that terrible accidents happen all the time, and it's a bit much to call for the lynching of these parents.

[indabush]

Confucius said.....A journey of a thousand miles begins with the single step"

[meeks]

It is the idea that people think that they can control animals that are not suppose to be domesticated that have people on edge about this. A preditor added to the same environment with children. Human arrogance at it's worse. I don't believe the parents should be lynched. Bit far for me. But I do hope people start using their brain a little more.

[nanya]

For Poster1122
And how many children should die before you think there is a problem having a potentially dangerous animal in an enviorment where even the parents cannot not predict or totally control what the animal will do. None of the things that you listed make sense when you are talking about people trying to house and care for 12 foot long predator. If you take a predatory undomesticated animal into your home, you are asking for potential trouble. It is sometimes difficult enough to have certain breeds of domesticated dogs around children.
This was a situation that did not have to happen except for the stupidity of the parents.

[roudy]

The parents should be charged and convicted of first degree murder, and their sentence should be death by slow strangulation.

[indabush]

here here - i got both hands up, both feet up on this suggestion.

[MissAngela]

I'm sure the death of their daughter is better "punishment" then anything you or I could think up.

[ThePeople]

Hmmmm. No. It's not. It's only a start.

[cdnnewsjunky]

You can't outlaw stupidity! If you did, you couldn't build jails fast enough. It broke out of the cage.

[Wide Stance]

They need to outlaw the possession of pythons as pets. They are being released into the wild where they can live for 30 years, grow to 20 feet long, weigh 200 pounds and have no natural predators. Introducing non-native species is a hazard to the ecosystem and to community. Imagine if your child or dog is killed by a wild python? People are irresponsible pet owners to begin with, so why do we allow them to possess lethal predators? It should be a felony to release it into the wild. Wake up. This isn't about one child.

[Liberal2]

totally agree!

And the importation of all non-native species of both plants and animals should be made illegal. Both are damaging the ecology.

[nomadrdw]

so you don't want a garden any more, or any type of florist. just so you know, house cats, all domestic dogs, all pet birds and 90 to 95 % of our food plants are non-native. by the way, i can list many many more everyday animals that are not. maybe people should have to take a test before they can have children, after all, you that to pass a test to drive.

[That Guy]

1. Don't outlaw ALL pythons. There are MANY python species that never get big enough to be a threat to people.
2. Absolutely make releasing them a felony.

[iSeeDumbPeople]

Exactly. These people are endangering the entire public as a whole.

[calgary]

This is the consequences of our freedom to door own anything. Remember the woman that got her face chewed off by a chimp. Some of us just love to own things or animals that have great potential for doing greast harm.

[Bude]

Nice. Now it's time to strangle the parents.

[WallyWutMD]

I agree whole-heartedly. This kind of story infuriates me. I can just imagine the horror that poor little girl must have experienced in her last moments. I want to reach out and touch those parents in the worst way.

[btrim]

What is so bad about a hug?

[inthewind]

Good article on the reptile explosion in FLA in the the New Yorker a few issues ago. FLA needs to outlaw all imports, or we'll have pythons in GA, Carolinas. They are already moving that direction according to Florida Wildlife. But, the reptile industry, especially smuggling exotocs is a billion dollar import business. So, money dictates as per usual.

[Zyzzygowski]

Why release the snakes when they become too large? Aren't there taxidermists in Fla?

Heck, make belts and shoes.

[Gasparilla]

It's like keeping a loaded gun around. I don't get the whole snake thing anyway.

[FZliveson]

Gasparilla---So, it's like keeping a loaded gun around? Do you think people are going to sick their Burmese Python on a burglar? Or, do you mean they should keep the reptile locked up in a gun safe? Or do you mean they should have "splinted" the snake to a long piece of 3-inch copper pipe so it could not coil around the child, as one would use a trigger lock? I'm trying to get your logic.

[FabulousAt52]

No you know darn well what Gasparilla is saying...

A dangerous wild animal being kept in a home with a child, under non-secure conditions (crappy enclosure) is the same as leaving a loaded gun lying around.... "Dangerous" and an accident waiting to happen.

You are being intentionally 'confused' about his comment....

[Bri715]

This case rises to a whole different level of stupid and negligence. Sorry but anybody who keeps a snake of that size around a small child is placing the elements for a tragedy squarely in the middle of their house.