Child Dies After Being Strangled by Pet Python in Florida

[NavyDave]

Child Dies After Being Strangled by Pet Python in Florida

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529709,00.html?test=latestnews

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

A 2-year-old Florida girl died after being strangled by a pet python, police said.

Sumter County Sheriff's Lt. Bobby Caruthers said detectives are investigating the toddler's death, but it appeared that the child was strangled by the snake.

The tragedy occurred at a house near the city of Oxford, Fla., shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, local media reported. Officers were at the scene, according to MyFOXOrlando.com.

Pythons are a nonnative species to Florida, according to the Florida Wildlife Commission. But many people own Burmese pythons, which can grow more than 15 feet long and weigh more than 150 pounds.

Florida wildlife officials also have reported multiple sightings of Burmese pythons in the wild.

Pythons can kill by wrapping themselves around humans.

Oxford is about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.

[MattFancy]

Not smart to have something like that around a kid

[Kilmer17]

There is an estimated 30 thousand pythons now living in the everglades.

No natural predators, perfect environment.

[Thiebear]

i think i'd just die of heartbreak myself that moment.

Horrible reporting: Was the snake in the house, or outside?

[China]

i think i'd just die of heartbreak myself that moment.

Horrible reporting: Was the snake in the house, or outside?

Yes. Very sad. And I agree with the lousy reporting comment. It says they can get up to 15 feet long, but how big was this one?

And is it really necessary to have this statement "Pythons can kill by wrapping themselves around humans." When the article is about one strangling someone? Well, duh.

[Monte51Coleman]

There is an estimated 30 thousand pythons now living in the everglades.

No natural predators, perfect environment.

Some estimates go as high as 140,000.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-pythons-everglades-b062909,0,1121286.story

South Florida pythons taken to South Carolina pit

The snakes will live in the fenced pit for a year, while scientists determine how to slow or stop their invasion

By Alysia Patterson

The Associated Press

June 30, 2009

AIKEN, S.C.

One by one, seven slithering Burmese pythons -- some thicker than a forearm -- were dumped into a pit surrounded by 400 feet of reinforced fence.

Some hissed and lunged. Others coiled up under the brush and trees. For the next year all of them will call the pit home.

Ecologists at the Savannah River Ecology Lab will track the nonnative snakes, all captured at Everglades National Park, to determine if they can survive in climates a few hundred miles to the north.

The snakes, capable of growing to 25 feet, have established a breeding population in Florida's Everglades, where they consume native birds and other wildlife, competing with top predators such as alligators. Scientists want to learn how far the snakes can spread, what ecological damage they can do and how they can be stopped.

The federal government is considering designating the Burmese python an "injurious species," which would ban imports and interstate commerce in them.

Ken Warren, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which would make the decision, said the service is aware of the South Carolina study and is "interested in any science that comes out of it."

The snakes appeared in the Everglades in 1992, when scientists speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons was released into the wild after Hurricane Andrew shattered many pet shop terrariums. The park has removed nearly 1,000 pythons over the past few years, spokeswoman Linda Friar said.

Estimates of how many remain vary widely, from about 5,400 to 140,000. But the park knows they're breeding, having discovered clutches of python eggs.

One question is whether the wild-born pythons will behave differently from the domesticated ones that founded the population.

"They're not native to the habitat, they're aggressive, and they're going to affect how the ecosystem works," Friar said. "It's a predator on the high end of the food chain. There's been a lot of discussion about whether it will compete with the American crocodile, the alligator and the panther."

Now scientists fear this invasive species is silently slithering northward.

"They of course have an impact on native species," said Whit Gibbons, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia and a member of the python project. "If you have a big old python eating five times as much as another species that eats the same prey, it's a competitive thing."

A human is "just another prey item" to a python -- especially a small human, he said.

"A 20-foot python, if it grabbed one of us, would bite us and then within just -- instantly -- seconds, it would be wrapped all the way around you and squeezing the life out of you," Gibbons said.

Although attacks are rare, people have been killed by pet pythons. A Louisiana man who owned at least 11 snakes was suffocated by his 16-foot python in 1993 as he tried to defend himself by stabbing it with a knife. A suburban Denver man was killed by his 10-foot python in 2002 after it wrapped itself around him, requiring six police officers and firefighters to pry it off. Also that year a suburban Pittsburgh man was convicted of child endangerment after the family's 11-foot python escaped from its cage and strangled his 8-year-old daughter, who had been left alone.

Mike Dorcas, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina, has sliced open pythons in Florida to find the remains of white-tailed deer, bobcats and large birds.

Dorcas is leading the experiment at the Savannah River Ecology Lab as part of a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Park Service and the University of Florida.

"The question is really, well, can they survive in a place like South Carolina or North Carolina or Arkansas or Tennessee?" Dorcas said.

One day before releasing the pythons into the pit, Dorcas snapped on latex gloves to surgically implant radio transmitters into the snakes, allowing scientists to track them and hunt down any escapees.

What are the chances of escape? "We never want to say never. We've made the enclosure as snake-proof as possible but we've taken some other precautions," Dorcas said, noting that all of the pythons are males, so they wouldn't be able to reproduce.

The ecologists also inserted micro data loggers into each snake to record the internal temperature of the python every hour. After a year, Dorcas will remove the chips and download the information into a computer to find out how the snakes regulate their body temperatures in a cooler climate.

Pythons are masters of disguise -- slippery and quick -- and all but one of the serpents was invisible within minutes of being deposited into the pit.

Staff Writer David Fleshler contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[zoony]

That is extremely sad.

And I'm sorry, any parent who would have a pet python in the house around kids should do hard time. (shoddy reporting of course doesn't confirm that it was THIS family's household pet though, just that it was a "pet")

Also, no natural predators in the everglades- what natural predators does a 15 foot python have anywhere?

[PeterMP]

My in laws so a python-alligator fight at the evergaldes. The python had wrapped itself around the alligator, but not before the alligator got a couple of good bites into it. People at the park service said most likely both would die (alligator first; python later from the bites).

[Kilmer17]

Well, a 15 footer probably has none.

But their eggs and smaller ones are on alot of other predators diets in their native lands, to the point that they were endangered.

With no natural balancer in the everglades, too many reach that size.

[zoony]

Well, a 15 footer probably has none.

But their eggs and smaller ones are on alot of other predators diets in their native lands, to the point that they were endangered.

With no natural balancer in the everglades, too many reach that size.

snapping turtles, alligators, lizards, frogs, badgers, etc I would think would gorge themselves on python eggs / babies ?

[Larry Brown #43]

Also, no natural predators in the everglades- what natural predators does a 15 foot python have anywhere?

[WhoRUSupposed2Be]

That is extremely sad.

And I'm sorry, any parent who would have a pet python in the house around kids should do hard time. (shoddy reporting of course doesn't confirm that it was THIS family's household pet though, just that it was a "pet")

Also, no natural predators in the everglades- what natural predators does a 15 foot python have anywhere?

That was what I was wondering also.

Also, I am sorry to hear about the 2 yr. old.

[Fergasun]

For those who wondering the python was owned by the mom's boyfriend and it escaped a holding tank during the night. There is a 911 tape of the call floating around. The snake also bit the girl in the head as well.

I couldn't imagine how scary that must be for the child.

[RammsteinSkins]

''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.'' Holy hell that sounds awesome.

[Fergasun]

Here you go man...

[Old Dominion Monarch 06]

Umm... to everyone wondering whether or not this snaked was their pet did you miss the second sentence in the article?

Shaiunna Hare was strangled early Wednesday morning by the 8-foot, 5-inch snake as she slept after it got out of its tank in another room of the house, according to Sumter County Sheriff's Lt. Steve Binegar.

most definitely their pet.

and it even says that the man may be faced with charges because she didn't have a permit for the animal.

[Bang]

You get what you ask for.

Snakes that size aren't pets. They're dangerous wild animals living in a tank in your house. It's a shame the little kid had to pay for the parents' stupidity by dying a gruesome terrifying death.

~Bang

[Old Dominion Monarch 06]

You know you're right, and a tank that clearly wasn't secured properly as the article states that the snake had gotten out once before earlier IN THE SAME DAY. I mean give me a break. There's absolutely no way their tank was secured correctly... either that or it wasn't the right kind of tank to begin with. Either way I agree with anyone saying that these idiots should be brought up on charges for something because this is pretty ridiculous.

[China]

And look how big they can get when they get loose or are released into the wild:

17-Foot Burmese Python Caught In Okeechobee County

[Henry]

Here you go man...

That's pretty nasty.

[Predicto]

Don't blame the snake. That is what snakes are supposed to do.

[Botched]

You get what you ask for.

Snakes that size aren't pets. They're dangerous wild animals living in a tank in your house. It's a shame the little kid had to pay for the parents' stupidity by dying a gruesome terrifying death.

~Bang

Completely agree. In fact, there is no reason anyone needs to have Burmese Pythons, Rock Pythons, Reticulated Pythons, or Anacondas as pets. These are very large and dangerous animals that do nothing but lie around like sloths and on occasion, eat. When they get very large just getting near them can be extremely dangerous. There is no redeeming value to owning a pet like that.

[NavyDave]

They are basically at the top of the food chain in Florida eating everything including Gators.

[Gary Clark Fan]

shame on people. grow up and get a real pet.