News: 2 die in rock python attack

[MootWorm]

Wouldn't a gas / chemical leak kill the third boy?

Also, wouldn't a heavy snake like that break the bones of a five year old? Just a thought.

Not if the third boy was much older, or if the younger boys had compromised immune systems. Also depends on where the gas/chemical leak originated from and where boy #3 was in proximity to it. A whole host of factors still need to be accounted for. Very sad and interesting case, I'll definitely be following.

[bcr229]

Oh sheesh, just had to field a call from the monster-in-law. She's deathly afraid of snakes and just spent an hour on the phone pestering us to get rid of ours - never mind that the largest is a 6' BCI who is sweet as pie - because one of them might strangle my eight year old daughter in her sleep.

[MsMissy]

Any way you look at this it is a tragedy... If, in fact, this is what we are being told<doubtful>, this store owner is guilty of negligent homicide. I find it very difficult to believe, likely because I simply do not want to believe it. Snakes can kill and we all know it.

The autopsy will tell us what we need to know, I don't know how Canada's laws work but a case this high profile will certainly call for the public to be made aware. That snake is probably dead by now.... A waste of a beautiful animal, but we do the same to pit bulls when they kill a child, much more common than this.

Will United States politicians latch onto this as a way to try to limit the ownership of these animals? Possibly, but it would be a long fight.

[AJs Snake House]

Sounds to me like the the store owner strangled the two unrelated boys and covered it up with a bogus story...as his child was unharmed in another room...

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[AJs Snake House]

Autopsy will more than likely rule it as foul play...
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[Pythonfriend]

Lets put it this way:

Two boys, age 5 and 7, are dead. The suspect is a big african rock python. The suspect will be euthanized no matter what.

We are the defense. That one african rock python will die or maybe is already dead. But we still need to defend and find a way to argue and convince that the snake did NOT kill the two boys. If we fail to put up a defense, the judgement will be: Large constricting snakes can escape their enclosures and can then kill two boys, age 5 and 7, in their sleep.

And there is no judge, and the jury is the populus, its a media war. We need to be smart and alert and better be one step ahead. And if anything else is to blame for these two deaths, we need to first find out, then prove it and make a case, then publicise it.

If we fail and this goes down in the historical record as one python escaping and killing two boys in their sleep, it would even get used as a precedent in Europe and even here in Europe, where things vary a great deal between nations, it will have an impact. The worst case they bring against constricting snakes is one case where a burm killed a baby. If this crap materializes, even in Europe all anti-snake people in politics will switch from the "a burm killed a baby" - story to the "a rock python killed two boys age 5 and 7" - story.

This is so big, so tremendously huge, it might flatten the hobby. And dont think snake keepers outside the USA will be safe. The fallout from this might even hit the EU. So we need to be informed and smart and need to cooperate.


We need to be the defense for one african rock python currently "charged" with multiple homicide. And the prosecution is the media, and the defense also is the media. No real court here so far. I think its a "play dead and you are dead" situation. We need to unite, think hard, put together a defense, then approach the media, and fight the media battles, and then it moves on to legislative actions, and there will be more political fights.

1st step: get informed, and DO NOT underestimate this.

[Pythonfriend]

Any way you look at this it is a tragedy... If, in fact, this is what we are being told<doubtful>, this store owner is guilty of negligent homicide. I find it very difficult to believe, likely because I simply do not want to believe it. Snakes can kill and we all know it.

The autopsy will tell us what we need to know, I don't know how Canada's laws work but a case this high profile will certainly call for the public to be made aware. That snake is probably dead by now.... A waste of a beautiful animal, but we do the same to pit bulls when they kill a child, much more common than this.

Will United States politicians latch onto this as a way to try to limit the ownership of these animals? Possibly, but it would be a long fight.

i do not believe this. I was able to put up a fight at age 5, even more so at age 7. If a big python comes crashing down through the ceiling, i would have woken up. Especially when my 7-year-old friend in the same room puts up a short but hard fight against a giant python, and a giant python goes into wrapping action. And then it would be minutes between the python strangling one and trying but failing to eat it and then attacking the other.

It makes no sense.

[MarkS]

A couple of things to remember.

The snake has ALREADY been convicted in the media.

There has been no medical report as of yet so actual cause of death is not known. These things tend to take a long time to complete. Much of the story will already be out of the media by the time the truth is known.

Once the actual cause of death is known, (and I'm betting that the snake will be exonerated) there will be NO followup reports in the media explaining that the snake was not at fault.

[eatgoodfood]

I heard this on the radio on my way to work. In Germany. And my reaction was What the 'instert curse words here.' All they said was two bous were killed by a python and that the house was a reptile store. First thought check here. Sure enough... I really hope it gets put out quick that the snake did not do it as seems obvious to everyone here.... But a good portion of damage is already done because of the media jumping to conclusions and reporting crap with no real information. Sad.. For the kids and their family, and for snake owners world wide. Media is just perpetuating the fear of the public.

[el8ch]

Tragic that these little boys lost their lives, no matter how it happened.

Curious what the autopsy will reveal, a lot does not add up here. Then again "investigative" reporting on this story has been very lacking. A lot of buzz words being thrown around by the media and no real facts about what really took place.