"Python Swallows Dog"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332913,00.html

This is certainly tragic and it's not a pet snake but a wild one. Hoever, I hope that with this being a front headline that it won't give pet snakes a bad name.

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Originally Posted by MasonC2K

Hoever, I hope that with this being a front headline that it won't give pet snakes a bad name.

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I fear that it will.

I saw this on a local Toronto news website and immediately thought: "Great, another sensational snake eating story blown up in the media. Just what herpers need at this time..."

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...hub=TopStories

Why didn't the family keep the dog inside and call someone to remove the snake days earlier, instead of waiting for the inevitable to happen before calling someone?

I thought the same thing. Seeing the headline I was thinking "I hope it was not a pet snake". They family said the snake was tracking the dog but did nothing to prevent it from happening. This stuff happens there all of the time probably, but only gets attention here because it's a hot topic at the moment.

Hey guys saw this and thought i would share it with you all.
I'm sorry but the family seem a little stupid to me. I mean if i saw a python in my dog bed then i would call somone in.

read the story its a real laugh! obviously not for the poor pets though. :):D

http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifest...27406820080227

the people are idiots i woulda called and had something done before it got to that and also there is another post about this going around great info just sux cuz now this is a draw back and when people read this they are going to say this is why snakes shouldnt be kept as pets

wtf why is there a picture of a boa on the article, and why the heck didn't the family do anything about this matter BEFORE the thing had eaten every animal they had??

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Originally Posted by chintasurf

Hey guys saw this and thought i would share it with you all.
I'm sorry but the family seem a little stupid to me. I mean if i saw a python in my dog bed then i would call somone in.

read the story its a real laugh! obviously not for the poor pets though. :):D

http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifest...27406820080227

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OMG! Stupid people. I mean....I am at a loss for words. The cat and a guinea pig too?! WTF? These people are dumber than the ones that try and ride out hurricanes.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

Why didn't the family keep the dog inside and call someone to remove the snake days earlier, instead of waiting for the inevitable to happen before calling someone?

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I agree, the people themselves were stupid for not doing anything about it. If I saw a lion in my back yard, you're damn right i'm going to call animal control, or the zoo to get it out!

It's not the snake's fault in this case. People need to learn to call for help BEFORE their family pet gets eaten.

Edit: I just noticed we all said the same thing. I'm going to turn this thread over to the department of redundancy department.

hahaha heeeere boy.... come on boy where are ya??? :snake: OMG!!!!!:O i can only imagine having to find that in ur back yard several times and doing nothin till it was too late.... not very clever

thats terrible.. absolutly awful. it goes above the thought of a precious pet being eaten by a snake (Wild or not) but then to add in the fact that innocent children had to stand by and watch. its totally messed up and insane! Its terrible to think this could have been avoided grrrr

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Originally Posted by Morphie

wtf why is there a picture of a boa on the article?

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i was just thinking the same exact thing!! in the first article it said it was a scrub python, not a boa...totally different species all together!

Yea, wtf to the pic of the boa...

"It actively stalked the dog for a number of days. The family that owned the dog had actually seen it in the dog's bed, which was a sign it was out to get it," Douglas told local media.

And I simply cannot believe that some one who is supposed to work with reptiles said something that asinine. The snake was in the dogs bed so it was out to get it? What kind of crap is that to be spewing? Since when do snakes stalk their prey for days before eating it? And wtf, if there was a snake in my backyard eating every animal I own maybe just MAYBE I wouldn't let the f***ing dog outside. ARGHHHH. I'm so mad I could explode.

Being as this was a wild scrub python in Australia, it was the family that has the issue, not the snake. When there are predators living close to you, you take precautions with your animals. If not, this is what happens.

I was glad to see that they will be releasing the snake in the bush in a few days. The idiot that wrote the article though, needs to learn a few things about how snakes hunt. The old wives tale about a snake "stalking" the prey and the dog being a "goner" once the snake was in it's bed, that's just asinine. I wish there was a way to comment on the UK story...showing a boa instead of the real picture of the scrub is just going to cause people problems.

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

thats terrible.. absolutly awful. it goes above the thought of a precious pet being eaten by a snake (Wild or not) but then to add in the fact that innocent children had to stand by and watch. its totally messed up and insane! Its terrible to think this could have been avoided grrrr

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Yeah, terrible. It's called "no parental supervision." My kids would be blindfolded and in the house. Oh, yeah, that would never happen to me, b/c like the rest of you, I would have had the dog inside except for supervised bathroom breaks. When the snake came around, I would have a quick photo shoot while my husband was calling the wildlife people.

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

i was just thinking the same exact thing!! in the first article it said it was a scrub python, not a boa...totally different species all together!

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That's the media for ya. Here is a link to submit a comment for them to correct this egregious error, which I just did.
http://reuters-en.custhelp.com/cgi-b...&prod_lvl2=565

Thanks for sharing, OP.

Melissa, im glad im not the only one who thought the whole thing is totally crazy. Im a parent and pet owner and I couldnt even fathom letting our children watch the snakes eat their natural prey let alone a family pet! :O totally messed up. can you imagine those children having a lifetime fear of snakes because of their parents irresponsibility and negligence

'It actively stalked the dog for a number of days. The family that owned the dog had actually seen it in the dog's bed, which was a sign it was out to get it," Douglas told local media.'


i actually think that is valid proof the snake was after the dog. scrubs are extremely intelligent as far as pythons go... think of it like a snake using sent cues to find its way into a burrow and wait for a rat or whatever to return.
as far as the story... i have to imagine that there's several hundred other aussies out there thinking, 'big deal, that happens all the time'. especially in brisbane where the morelia species are abundant and being pushed to the limit by suburban sprawl.

I just kind of thought it a bit of a stretch to think the python hung around for days waiting for one little dog...when it could have easily moved off somewhere else and found other prey. I suppose when you look at in in the bed=rodent burrow way it does make sense though.

yeah who knows. and i'm sorry if that came off cocky, that wasnt a stab at anyone else's opinion...

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

Melissa, im glad im not the only one who thought the whole thing is totally crazy. Im a parent and pet owner and I couldnt even fathom letting our children watch the snakes eat their natural prey let alone a family pet! :O totally messed up. can you imagine those children having a lifetime fear of snakes because of their parents irresponsibility and negligence

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Yeah, you got an amen here. If the story is reported accurately, I'm sure it's not the ONLY thing the parents are doing wrong. It's a symptom. (Yes, I'm jumping to conclusions here.) So sad.

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Originally Posted by kzooherpetoculturist

yeah who knows. and i'm sorry if that came off cocky, that wasnt a stab at anyone else's opinion...

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I didn't take it that way at all. IMO, too, some aussies ARE thinking it's no big deal. Or more exactly, they are thinking it shouldn't be a surprise given the parents' failure to take appropriate measures.

Well, our version pictures not a boa - but a ball python. Give me a break!!!! Way to go responsible reporting.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20027.aspx

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Originally Posted by GirDance

Well, our version pictures not a boa - but a ball python.

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Ridiculous. Reminds me of a year or so ago when a batch of baby ball pythons got loose in a neighborhood around here and they had some lady on the news talking about how her grandchildren wouldn't be safe because the snakes would be trying to eat them...she then produced one of the babies that she'd killed with a shovel. I wanted to punch her through the tv, I swear.

Just sad and ignorant.

And? Seriously? You'd think Australians, seeing as how they live on a continent where like 1 out of 2 animals can kill the crap out of you, would be a bit more critter savvy. Guess not though.

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

Im a parent and pet owner and I couldnt even fathom letting our children watch the snakes eat their natural prey

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I see nothing wrong with letting children of an age that can understand (and that depends on the child, of course) watch snakes eat. It is a fascinating example of evolution and adaptation in a species. When I was 10, our elementary school Science teacher had a room full of reptiles. Though we had to have signed parental permission, there were quite a few kids there to watch the snake eat. I think it was a burmese python, though it may have been a boa (don't recall which, but it was big to a 10yr old!). It was one of the things that solidified my love of snakes to this day.

That said, these people were totally irresponsible in both pet care and child care. I have to wonder why parents in a country where big snakes, along with venomous snakes, are a commonly seen animal haven't taught them what to do in case one shows up. Of course, keeping their dog outside in such an area was pretty irresponsible, too. The only one not to blame here is the snake, who was just doing what snakes do.

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Originally Posted by GirDance

Well, our version pictures not a boa - but a ball python. Give me a break!!!! Way to go responsible reporting.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20027.aspx

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Wow. That is so stupid, I just have to laugh. But I really want to cry b/c that kind of mistake is what creates ignorance and fear. You should contact them and tell them to correct their error.

Edit: I sent them an email and told them they should be ashamed of themselves.

Thats a scrub python for sure not a boa. FYI

At some point the pic they had was most definitely a boa. They must have changed it.

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Originally Posted by GirDance

Well, our version pictures not a boa - but a ball python. Give me a break!!!! Way to go responsible reporting.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20027.aspx

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Oh god.... :O

Now that is ridiculous!!

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Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

Wow. That is so stupid, I just have to laugh. But I really want to cry b/c that kind of mistake is what creates ignorance and fear. You should contact them and tell them to correct their error.

Edit: I sent them an email and told them they should be ashamed of themselves.

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I also just sent an email to them... It seems like their article is almost identical to the CTV article, except they removed the word "scrub" from the entire article, and just used the generic word "python", so that people will think, "Gosh, my son has a ball python, whatever can I do!!" This is why I don't watch public news anymore... it's all about getting a reaction out of people. No one seems to want to report the straight truth anymore...

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Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

Wow. That is so stupid, I just have to laugh. But I really want to cry b/c that kind of mistake is what creates ignorance and fear. You should contact them and tell them to correct their error.

Edit: I sent them an email and told them they should be ashamed of themselves.

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I did use their comments form. I love the state that 'responsible reporting' and 'research' have come to. It made me wonder if anyone even edited their "Top Stories" for accurate content.

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Originally Posted by dalvers63

I see nothing wrong with letting children of an age that can understand (and that depends on the child, of course) watch snakes eat.

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my sons are 2 and 3½ we dont like them to watch the snakes eat because we really think its inappropriate. my 3yro knows the snakes eat mice not rats and thats about it... he has seen the animals eat a few times in the past but we try not to let them (we feed after they go to bed)

:8:...:confused:...:mad:
When I was a little kid my best friend was my cat Cotton. She loved me ... and only me. I had her from the age of two until 11 when I came out into my front yard where a group of 3 Dogs, that escaped though the OPEN fence of my neighbors, scattered away from my cat that they had just killed. It was the first death I had ever experienced. Pretty Disturbing... I am now and always have been a lover of all animals. Even at that age I had the same understanding I do now... This was a tragic incident allowed to happen by STUPID PEOPLE!!!

This is the nature of these animals. It is the oldest animal behavior on the planet earth... It's called Eating!!!! :hungry: We all do it!!! If you don't want your dog to die... THEN DON"T FEED HIM TO THE GIANT WILD SNAKE WAITING IN YOUR YARD YOU IDIOT!!! :snake2:HAS ANYONE THOUGHT ABOUT THOSE KIDS?!?!? The kids were close enough to watch the dog become dinner.... But the parents didn't even care enough about the safety of their small children playing in the yard to call someone to get the giant wild python away from their home. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that a huge scrub python is going to eat a little chihuahua mutt the second it gets close enough.

I'm sorry if this is cruel or offends anyone... But as a snake lover and a dog lover... and responsible owner of both... I am happy that snake got the good meal it was trying for. I'm sorry the kids had to see their pet eaten, that is heartbreaking as a child. I hope someday someone explains to them that this happened because of their parents negligence. Animals eat other animals... It's the circle of life... Those people are better off not owning an animal if they are going to knowingly let it walk into danger. So that dogs purpose in life ended up being to nourish an awesome snake... Between the dog and the snake I will never take a side because that is just simply how nature works. I hate how IGNORANT people blame their ignorance on innocent animals.

The Misleading pictures in the press make me wanna educate someone in a violent way... :frustrate

WE MUST EDUCATE THE MASSES!!! DON'T LET THE IGNORANCE OVERRUN US!!! Our beloved serpent freinds are in more danger than ever!!!

wow... sorry about that.:oops: Didn't mean to go on a rant! Peace...

So sorry about your cat. I think we all agree that the kids watching was tragic and very irresponsible of the parents.

The kids having to see is horrible... But the thing that really gets me... Is that these kids were obviously playing in the yard where they had been observing a huge Wild Python for weeks and the parents didn't even care about their kids safety enough to have the Python removed from the area. They are obviously very uneducated in things like this... but people who know nothing about snakes are typically the ones who harbor the most fear of them. I know the odds of a Scrub Python eating a child and they are not good... But I still wouldn't let a child go anywhere near one in the wild. Sorry about the rant from last night... Had a few glasses of Cab:imslow:... But some things get me a little a little ticked.

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Originally Posted by GirDance

Well, our version pictures not a boa - but a ball python. Give me a break!!!! Way to go responsible reporting.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20027.aspx

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Looks like they have changed the picture to the actual snake! :) I guess our comments actually worked. Although, they STILL do not say the words "scrub python" anywhere in the article.