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Could have just as easily been a small child. Still shaking my head...
Owners Awarded $1,300 In Death Of Pet Dog Killed By Python

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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Wish there was more to the story!!
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

Wendy has a good point!

First: If the dog was so important to them why was he off his leash when out and about walking in a neiborhood?

Second: If someone had hit him with a car it would have been the owner of the dogs fault for not having him on a leash!!
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

First of all, I supposes the locality's particular leash law is relevent. Not all localities require animals to be on a leash (my parents town has no leash laws whatsoever).

Either way, there is no way you could put this back on the dog owners. They had no reason to expect their dog could be attacked by a large python in their apartment building (and therefore every reason to expect their animal would be fine off leash).

The car analogy doesn't work for me either. If the dog was hit by a car IN THEIR APARTMENT building, you bet the driver would be held responsible.

People like this jackhole with the burm not only should be held financially responsible (and to a much larger degree, IMO), they should be locked up.

The original article on the KS new links was the one that I read, which put the attch at the door to their apartment. The article that Jay linked didn't make that clear.

####Vassello was walking the pair's 8-pound rat terrier, Max, in February and let the dog off his leash near their apartment.####

According to the news and i dont think it was Fox so we can trust somewhat of what they said!! lol

The dog was NEAR there apartment.

As far as leash laws, if you let your dog roam free around a street no matter the law, IMO that is bad "husbandry" and if your dog gets hit and killed I wouldnt think there is much you could do to the driver!! I dont know all the laws and such this is just my opinion!!

I think brian/chrissy is right on about if your python gets out you should atleast give people some sort of warning to avoid situations like this!
Either way yea it is another negative thought put into the publics head!!
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

I agree
This is just more bad pr for the rep. world.
And keep your snakes secured, and if you know your snake got out let every one know so they can keep an eye out for it and keep their small pets safe. IMO
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1.2.0 ball python (aragorn, arwen,`eowyn)
1.0.0 100% het pied (frodo)
1.0.0 columbian boa (squiggles)
1.0.0 rat snake (alabastered)
0.1.0 corn snake (baby)
0.0.2 whites tree frog (trevor, kirmet)
0.0.5 pacific green tree frogs
3.2.0 cats (rockie, bs, brownie, lerrado, kole)
1.3.0 kids (dilyen, dakota, chyanne, sierra)
Brian n Chrissy

"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

I think it's interesting that the two reports are so different - one making it sound like the snake was waiting to ambush the dog outside the apartment and the other emphasizing the dog was off the leash not far from the apartment.

Makes me think - how close to the apartment could it have really been that they guy ran to his car to get something to beat the snake with and not into his apartment.

Also makes me wonder how injured the dog really was from the attack that he was able to out run his owners to be found dead the next day at the local preschool.

Seems odd that a snake that size with a good 3 minute hold (give or take) on a small dog wouldn't have completely killed it in that time.

I can see a dog that has been shaken up by a snake easily running into the street and gettin hit by a car. Not saying that that is what happened by any means but it's just curious.

Whatever happened it most certainly is another black mark against snake owners all around.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.34.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 Lizards of unknown origin

""I can see a dog that has been shaken up by a snake easily running into the street and gettin hit by a car. Not saying that that is what happened by any means but it's just curious.""

That's the first thing that came to mind when i read the part about it dying from the injuries later.
...but then again...a crushed kidney,liver,pancreas or even crushed artery(or worse,intestine..eww)could definitely have led to a later death.

AS far as the bad press goes...yep!Happens alot when the wrong people(non-researchers)just buy it for "shock value".
Even if he had warned everyone within a possible traveled radius..?/hrmm,no,that would have been in the paper too(Though,he should have done so.)
...but bad press is usually due to such irresponsible keepers..Whether they confess to their neighbors,or not(obviously).

Maybe we all ought to get a petition going to set it up so that the herp community gets to vote in any of these new herp law proposals,that are getting pushed in our faces anyway.(Now i'm just dreaming.lol)
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

>
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

In my opinion if you own a snake of that size and it gets out of it's enclosure (and/or out of your home) and something like this or worse happens that owner needs to have his reptile or any pet ownership abilities removed from him.
I'll be the first to admit that in my 15 years of owning reptiles only three times has one escaped from it's enclosure but they have NEVER escaped outside of their room.
It really upsets me when a reptile owner can be that neglagent. But it happens. So sad for the snake to as the animal was probably destroyed because obviously it was "the bad guy" in this situation. ****said that sarcastically and is NOT what I believe****
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Christine
Tails With Scales Reptiles
Happiness is biting my snake back!

I think that if someone here were to post an article where a dog killed another dog everyone would have no problem blaming the 'killer' (for lack of a better word) dog for the situation.

How is it any different when the offending animal is a burm?

It is always tragic when someone's pet kills someone else's pet, but I don't think the responsible or logical thing to do in this situation is to blame the owner of the dog. You should ba able to let a well-trained dog off of it's leash, laws allowing, and if this dog was that big a deal to these owners then i see no reason why it would not be well trained.

Anyway, stuff like this is complicated, and we all get very defensive about our herps, but I don't think this issue is a clear-cut one.

Burms are wild animals that routenly eat small furry animals. It is expected for them to try to eat somthing that resemble a rat or is called a rat. It is up to the keeper to prevent any situations where that could happen. Cant blame a burm for being a burm.

If African rats don't work...!

>>If African rats don't work...!

Someone just might try it.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Y'all are EVIL! LOL
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"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
COLD BLOOD.........WARM HEART

Though we often feel denfensive for our fellow herpers. The owner of the burm was cleary negligent.

An animal of that size, that operates stricktly on instinstincts, is a hazard in the wrong hands.How was an animal of that size allowed to escape, except by poor husbandry?

The fact that the burm owner had the audacity to suggest by not being on a leash the Dog owners were responsible for the actions of his escaped python is repulsive.

What if this had been someone's child!
MHO,
A
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"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
COLD BLOOD.........WARM HEART

Ok, OK the burm guy is somewhat at fault!!!!

That is a fact!!!

But what about the dumb A$$ who let their dog go intentionally???

I don't think the burm was loose intentionally, infact I'm sure it wasn't.

I think the dog owners are no less then 70% at fault here.

If it was another dog, then do you think they would of sued? and if they did, do you think they would have gotten a dime?

Lets see, a snake got loose on it's OWN, a dog got loose intentionally by the dogs onwers, WHO'S AT FAULT???????????

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Please...
Keep an OPEN MIND, You'll be AMAZED...

the burm didn't get out on his own, the owner didn't provide an escape proof enclosure, it would have happened eventually. My question is how did the snake get outside the appartment? I myself very early in my snake keeping life had a burm escape it's enclosure but was contained in a locked room with the window closed. In my opinion if a burm is kept properly anyone should be allowed to own one. However there are too many people putting these giants in huge glass aquariums with screen lids held down by books or bricks.

Now to the dog owners responsibility issue. If there is a leash law they have no legal right to sue the individual that owned the snake even if it was his obligation to house the snake responsibly. I myself faced a similar situation. I was doing off leash training with my pit bull. I had him on a sit stay command 10 feet off the side of a road in my yard. A van swerved off the road and hit my dog. Because my county had a leash law it was rulled that we were both at fault and no charges or lawsuits were filed on either side.

It's not always cut and dry but the law is the law and to allow biased opinions to prevale on either side is wrong.
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Josh Hutto
JKReptiles

2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
1.0 Spider Ball python (Ballroom pythons south)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
1.1 graz pastel female
1.6 05 normal bp's
0.6 04 normal bp's
2.5 adult normal bp's (some need breeding to see if norm)
4 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrior
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
0.1 bearded dragons

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

All Good points.

Sorry about your dog.. must have been horrible to witness!
BRGDS,
A
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"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
COLD BLOOD.........WARM HEART

it was horrific but luckily pit bulls are tuff dogs. The van was moving roughly 50-60 mph and left tread marks from his chest over his left shoulder and only broke his left lower leg from the preasure of the van. He stood up after he quit rolling and went after the van, lol. The worse part of it was he has perfect UKC conformation and was being groomed for the show ring but not being able to work with him for 4 months due to surgery and such he has regressed to pure puppy-hood, lol. He is now in full time play mode and he's 3.5 yrs old.

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Josh Hutto
JKReptiles

2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
1.0 Spider Ball python (Ballroom pythons south)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
1.1 graz pastel female
1.6 05 normal bp's
0.6 04 normal bp's
2.5 adult normal bp's (some need breeding to see if norm)
4 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrior
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
0.1 bearded dragons

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrior as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!