Reptile & Amphibian Forums

or is there something wrong with this story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/escaped-python-canada-two-boys-dead_n_3709541.html

CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick — Two young boys were killed by a python that escaped its enclosure at a pet store in Canada, police said Monday.

The brothers, aged five and seven, were sleeping in a friend's apartment above the pet store when the snake strangled them, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Const. Julie Rogers-Marsh.

Police arrived at the apartment in Campbellton, New Brunswick, at 6:30 and found the two boys dead. The friend of the brothers was sleeping in another room and was unharmed, Rogers-Marsh said.

She said the snake was believed to have made its way into the apartment through the ventilation system overnight.

The snake was captured and is in the possession of police. Calls to the pet store were not returned Monday.

"It's very, very unusual and very tragic and difficult for everyone involved," Rogers-Marsh said.

Autopsies will be performed on the two victims on Tuesday.
Escaped Python In Canada Responsible For Deaths Of Two Young Boys

Whenever any animal stories are in the news, I try to keep an open mind. Animals, when featured in the news, are somehow much larger and more ferocious than in reality.

This seems strange. African rock pythons can be extremely nasty, but still this seems weird. How does a snake kill 2 boys? How big was the snake really?

Remember the story of the escaped ball python (3 ft long) which the news reported as 6 ft and dangerous?

http://www.fox.com.au/fox-news-feed/2013/8/snake-deaths-now-a-murder-investigation/

Snake deaths now a murder investigation
Two Canadian boys killed by a python could now be a homicide
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Investigations into two young Canadian brothers thought to be strangled by a python has taken a twist, with police now treating it as a possible murder.
Connor Barthe, 7, and brother Noah, 5, were killed while they slept in an apartment above an exotic pet store, but there were no screams.
It comes after the mother of the pair posted hundreds of photos of her boys taken last year, playing in and cleaning her neighbours snake cage.
Police have stepped up their inquiries, but won’t release further details until full post mortem results are known.
Snake experts have also raised questions stating pythons seeking food always bite first.

John Marais from the African Snake Bite Institute said “if it grabs a kid, you’re going to have more than enough time to scream”.
“You can’t be asleep and be bitten by a python and strangled. That’s impossible,” Mr Marais told News Limited. “You’re going to wake up instantly.”
It’s believed the non-poisonous rock python escaped its enclosure and got into the ventilation system, before slithering into the apartment where the boys were sleeping.
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Aweful, but at least logical. Stupid news always does that - reports things as fact before they even know anything. I guess they "have to" to be competitive. Still stupid.

I am not sure what the publishers intent of this headline was,
but what I actually found *shocking* about this article was
that any adult with half a brain would actually photograph any children so
scantily clad, in this day and age, and not expect some to see it as a HUGE red flag. Lets see, first the snake escapes from faulty cage a SECOND time, AFTER the owner FAILED to repair it, and this time with small children present, then the owner changes his story from the “snake escaped from the downstairs cage” to “snake actually was kept in a different cage in the upstairs apartment all along”. Now we see that no attending adults had the brains to not allow small children to play naked in a dirty reptile cage and expose themselves to whatever microorganisms the snake may have had. And now we find out about photos that would be provocative to pedophiles. It seems like the children were failed at least three times by all of the responsible adults in their lives.
And because of this, responsible reptile owners are having collections confiscated and euthanized, and cities everywhere are passing restrictive exotics laws fueled by media-manufactured hysteria of escaped snakes “terrorizing” the world. The witch hunt has begun.
When people kill people with guns, or other weapons, drunk driving, dogs, etc, we don't pass laws making it illegal for responsible people who haven’t done anything wrong, to own guns, weapons, cars, alcohol, dogs, etc.,
and confiscate their property and make them face criminal charges. But for
exotic animals, apparently there is a different standard.
Jean Claude Savoie should be tried, convicted and publicly executed by firing squad for involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment. If the father was present and asleep in the apartment, as several articles stated, then the same justice should be meted out to him.

http://tinyurl.com/ktb54r8
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