News: 2 die in rock python attack

[kitedemon]

I hate media people they twist and spin everything.

I am in NS, I have a lot of NB friends, my breeder is in NB. It is a mess and the media are making bad worse by half truths and innuendo. I cannot stomach the pages of posts, sorry, I am too close to this. It is tragic an senseless and completely avoidable. I have been to the shop, Reptile Ocean, met the snake owner once or twice and am likely going to be effected by DNR changes.

things I know to be true.

The owner had a zoo permit and DNR placed animals they seized with him, including the 'rock in question. The permit lapsed, yet no one from DNR did anything they just stopped bringing new animals and stopped doing the inspections involved in meeting the zoo permit requirements.

The shop was not the best I have been in nor the worst but the feeling of neglect was everywhere on my last visit many years ago. (Things not as clean as the should be, poor paint quality, messy... like the passion was gone.)

The 'expert' owner should have known that an African Rock can climb and fit inside a large vent shaft if there was no grill or fan to prevent it. I think we all would believe this is a escape waiting to happen.

He left the province and has been picked up and returned for trial.

It is odd behaviour for any snake.

The boys were at a farm with in 24 hours of the incident.

They were at a sleep over but the third child was not in the room with them he was in his own bedroom.

What I believe,

There are far more questions than answers.

There is more going on than we are being told.

That it is likely to effect the government staff as well.

I can't see how unless there is some procedure failing that the snake owner is not negligent. There was nothing over the vent duct it was wide open. (6 or 8 inch duct at that.)

It is going to effect the laws regarding exotic animal ownership in our area. (already has in fact.)

I am very sad that two boys died. I believe that this is 100% preventable and should never have happened. It is no mystery how the snake escaped, it is a mystery why the missing fan and grill was allowed to be missing for some time.

[artgecko]

I just happened to be listening to an interview about this case on an old urban jungles radio a couple nights ago and he interviewed the wildlife expert they called in to identify reptiles and take illegal ones. That expert said that the hole in the ceiling looked "old" to him, like it had been there for a long time and that the cage was only about 8' away from the boys, so in his opinion, it had no need to climb into duct work if it was after the boys.

For me... This whole thing is fishy. I could believe that a large constrictor could kill 1 small child, but killing 2 right next to each other without the second one waking up and to crash through the ceiling without making any noise to wake people up? Unless the boys had been drugged so that they wouldn't wake up or the owner wasn't even there to hear the noise, I just don't see how this could happen in a real-life situation.

This situation is definitely negligence at best... But I keep thinking that it is more than that.

kitedemon- I am so sorry that you and many others will be effected by this.. this is just a tragic situation all around. :/

[artgecko]

There's an interview o the reptile guy they had come in an identify animals (after the original event) on urban jungles radio. HE said that the cage for the snake was about 8' away from where the boys were sleeping and that there was no need for it to climb into a vent and that the hole in the ceiling looked old to him (preexisting). I did not hear the whole interview, just what UJR had put up on video on youtube.

I find this all very hard to swallow... and my assumption is that there was something more intentional to this, whether that be drugging of the kids (so they wouldn't react), or something else, but common sense says that things couldn't have happened as the media and police are depicting them. Unless the police are maybe not telling all the evidence (so they can wait and charge him at trial or something)?

[das_nooblet]

Heard on the new today that the trial for this case has finally started. Figured I'd resurrect this thread rather than starting a whole new one.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/python-...?autoPlay=true

Admittedly, I am still an amateur herper, and with limited knowledge about the larger species. Nonetheless, some of the statements presented in court so far have me alternately face-palming or going "Duh, of course it will react in X fashion if you're doing action Y to it."

Any giant keepers care to weigh in?

[Macropodus]

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/...-as-slept.html

[bcr229]

Original thread...
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...k-python/page2

[bcr229]

What bothers me is that the autopsy on the boys states that they were killed via asphyxiation. Large constrictors kill via cardiac arrest.

I'm not a doctor so I don't know if the two would be discernible or not on an autopsy.

[butterballpython]

Maybe I just have a suspicious mind, but my first thought, considering the way that species usually kills and eats, is that it just might be a double murder set up to blame the snake. Some of the first things I'd check are life insurance policies and child support liabilities and payments or missed payments, and not necessarily those of the snake owner. People have paid off others to "take care of business" before.

Then again, maybe I just have a suspicious mind.

[o.r hill]

The CTV story mentions that the boys had numerous wounds which would fit a python bite. But the fact that they did not wake up does not make sense. Makes me think that drink or drugs are involved. The officer’s description of the snake’s super aggressive behavior sounds off.

[paroxysm]

just saw this story, very tragic.
any thoughts? this doesn't seem very likely to me. may they rest in peace.