Officials: Escaped pet python strangled Fla. child

[samanthajane13]

By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer Mike Schneider, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 28 mins ago

OXFORD, Fla. – A pet Burmese python measuring more than 8 feet long broke out of a terrarium and strangled a 2-year-old girl in her bedroom Wednesday at a central Florida home, authorities said. Shaiunna Hare was already dead when paramedics arrived at about 10 a.m., Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said.

Charles Jason Darnell, the snake's owner and the boyfriend of Shaiunna's mother, discovered the snake missing from its terrarium and went to the girl's room, where he found it on the girl and bite marks on her head, Caruthers said. Darnell, 32, stabbed the snake until he was able to pry the child away.

"The baby's dead!" a sobbing caller from the house screamed to a 911 dispatcher in a recording. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby."

Authorities did not identify the caller and removed the person's name from the recording.

"She got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death," the caller said.

Authorities removed the snake from the home Wednesday afternoon after obtaining a search warrant. Once outside the small, tan home, bordered by cow pastures, the snake was placed in a bag then inside a dog crate. The snake was still alive.

Darnell did not have a permit for the snake, which would be a second-degree misdemeanor, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He has not been charged, but Caruthers said investigators were looking into whether there was child neglect or if any other laws were broken.

Hill said the snake will be placed with someone who has a permit, pending an investigation into the girl's death.

The Humane Society of the United States said including Wednesday's death, at least 12 people have been killed in the U.S. by pet pythons since 1980, including five children.

Burmese pythons are not native to Florida, but they easily survive in the state and can reach a length of 26 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds.

Some owners have freed pythons into the wild and a population of them has taken hold in the Everglades. One killed an alligator and then burst when it tried to eat it. Scientists also speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing since.

"It's becoming more and more of a problem, perhaps no fault of the animal, more a fault of the human," said Jorge Pino, a state wildlife commission spokesman. "People purchase these animals when they're small. When they grow, they either can't control them or release them."

George Van Horn, owner of Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, said the strangulation could have occurred because the snake felt threatened or because it thought the child was food.

"They are always operating on instinct," he said. "Even the largest person can become overpowered by a python."

Oxford is about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.

___

Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky, Antonio Gonzalez and Lisa Orkin contributed to this report from Miami.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090701/...hon_strangling


RIP, Shaiunna!!!

[tdg_onex]

it really sucks to have this kind of negative press for our hobby. The owner of the snake is at fault here, not the snake, and I hope they have the proper charges brought against them. It was careless to have a snake that size in an enclosure it could escape from and have access to a small child. ridiculous.

[samanthajane13]

I agree about the owner being a totally irresponsible jerk. Now little Shaiunna is dead. I hope it was worth her life for him to own a dangerous snake in a home with a small child in it. JACKASS!!

[sushigex]

That's awful news to hear; and terrible for our industry. Another irresponsible Jackass in Florida giving pythons a bad name. To lose a child like that is just unconscionable.

[dcarter]

We have been talking about this story on another forum and honestly looking at pics of the snake it couldn't have been more than 6 ft, not 12 and looked terribly underfed not to mention the boyfriend did not have a permit for any of the snakes in the house. However, the story also seems fishy to me and I actually suspect the boyfieind and not the snake in her death. Snakes only strike and coil to eat and defend themselves- not for fun. The girl was too big to be eaten and sleeping rendering her not a threat to the snake soooo one has to wonder if they aren't just blaming the snake. If it was the snake I don't blame them for keeping the python, but improperly housing the python. I keep many snakes housed appropriately of course and being that they aren't venomous when cared for properly do not see them as a danger- this was a case of negligence or murder, but don't agree snakes should be given the rep for dangerous animals- dogs kill and maim more children a year than snakes

[Kale Stallaert]

It is really frustrating to hear stories like this. The reptile community is one that prides itself on proper care and housekeeping of these types of animals. It only takes one persons failure to provide for these pets to erupt into huge controversies and take lives...

[Zookeeper Gabe]

A big "oops" and another black mark for us. It really sucks for the girl, I wonder how much this will help bring back the "ban".

[M.Yatesomaha]

Wow another Blackeye for the Reptile industy...

12 people since 1980? Theres probally been more people killed swallowing their dinner forks in that time period! You better believe the medias gonna have a feild day with this one.

[SarahW]

I'm thinking along the same lines as dcarter here. My gut reaction to hearing this story was "they must not have been feeding it". If the snake was underfed I find it plausible that it saw something that might have been small enough for food and had a go at it, but obviously unsuccessful for its size.

This is unfortunate, but the fact that they dropped that statistic of 12 deaths since 1980 seems like a shot in the foot for their "demonize the snake" cause..... Granted if anyone else out there is smart enough to cue in on the fact that more people probably die of stubbed toes in that amount of time than death by snake.

[Zookeeper Gabe]

I hate to play the devils advocate here, but of course many more people have died from other things. Even with their popularity increasing there still are no where near as many snakes as dogs or horses, or stairs. People use that argument all the time when justifying big cats as "pets" many more people die from horses, well yeah. But if there were a million tigers in households in this country there would be a lot more deaths. People just seriously need to pay attention when owning any animal, be it a house cat, a burm or a horse.