TKiY - You make a good point.
We've all become to complacent and familiar with our animals. For whatever reason we've lost that natural instinct of immense respect and a realization that these large snakes are NOT household pets like any other. We don't treat them as they should be treated and that's in part because familiarity breed contempt.
I mean if we had a pet bear we'd treat it as a potential killer at all times but when it comes to snakes we often treat them as if they were nothing but a kitten in a big body. How often do we see people describing their snakes as "gentle as a kitten", "would never hurt anyone", "friendly as a puppy", etc, etc, etc?
I can almost guarantee that had this woman truly realized that she was dealing with a wild animal that is by no stretch of the imagination domesticated and not a traditional pet except that it's a captive then she probably wouldn't have been killed. She would have not only been respectful of what it is but also would have been terrified of what it could potentially do.
I mentioned a pet bear and I once had the opportunity to do a rehab with a bear. It was a tiny cub when we got it and for the longest time even when it weighed almost 400lbs I still visualized it as a tiny cub. Treated it that way too. Until one day I saw it take a "playful" swipe at a 120 pound bail of hay and send it skidding well over 10 yards along rocky uneven ground. That's when I realized this bear was a wild animal and though I could scratch it behind the ears and feed it from my hands it would absolutely destroy me if it got the thought in it's mind to do so and I'm 6'4" 250lbs.
All in all I'm just saying it might be time to start treating large snakes as the wild captive animals they are and not as little lap dogs.
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