Snake kills child

[samspade]

An escaped Burmese python snake killed a two-year old baby girl named Shaiunna Hare in Florida, strangling the baby as she slept and then bit her head
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Snake Kills Baby

Honestly I never understood why people keep exotic animals or animals like this. I had dogs and cats and even a raccoon and later a hamster but this?

My girlfriend's daughter has a snake and she has had other animals like ferrets and I wonder about it. She is in her thirties and has children

Python Found In Toilet

Python Found In Toilet

[Susanna]

Once when my ex and I were driving down a N/S street in Peoria, IL, fairly early in the morning, we saw a python coiled up in the middle of the road. It was quite chilly, and the snake was lethargic. Later we read about it in the news. No one knew where it came from, but someone was going to "adopt" it.

I just can't understand people who like snakes.

[Seravee]

In a way I feel sorry for the man, knowing for the rest of his life that he could of prevented that poor babies death by not having that snake in the first place but then again I sit there and call him obscene names for even having it.

But IMO I do not think he should go to jail. If he goes to jail he will get to live the rest of his life on taxpayers money while still being miserable. I say let him remain a paying, contributing member in society while drowning in misery.

[tperkins2009]

Now the snake will be destroyed because an idiot did not know or follow the proper handling practices. Always a bad idea to mix kids and exotic animals, you have to be careful enough with a dog and cat.

[Conservative Libertarian]

In my early 20's, I shared an apartment with my brother and his wife. When my nephew was born (the one that is in the Army and is in Iraq), my brother decided to get rid of his almost 7 ft long boa constrictor. While it had a huge, enclosed cabinet with glass doors, he didn't think that it would be a good idea. It took a little while but, he sold it. We were worried that if it were to ever get loose, it could end up in the crib and could harm or strangle my nephew. And to think that he is now kickin' butt and takin' names in the middle-east.

[Sobe]

THis makes me question the parenting skills of the adults involved

[angelmack]

sooo sad....:(

[Rightwing Nutjob]

One incident out of how many "potential" incidents? Do we bemoan adults putting children in cars where they might be injured? Do we question the parenting ability of parents whose children die in car wrecks? How about French aircraft? Well maybe we do on that one, but it has nothing to do with safety as much as upbringing. Many times more children drown in backyard pools each year than to exotic animals or pets.

I'm not saying this guy handled his snake right or not. It's not for me to say. I don't have enough information here in my armchair, but it is possible to own a snake and a child at the same time safely. Sorry, perkins, you don't have to be much careful at all with dogs (well maybe dogs, see below -- The dogs that live with me are both knuckleheads and very safe. ) and cats. They're pretty straightforward and simple, especially cats. I ignore mine when I'm not bouncing his head off the wall for entertainment. He ignores me when he's not gouging out my eyeball while I'm sleeping. It works.

My stupid city has an ordinance against poisonous and stinging insects and spiders. You cannot own an iguana here, and a child who catches a spider in a jar and keeps it is literally committing a violation. This is from overreaction to BAD stuff happening with animals, like OMG, there was an escaped juvenile alligator on Main Street.

This is a sad incident, but Oregon just moved to ban exotic pets -- The U.S. Humane Society identified precisely six incidents (two injuries no deaths) in the past seven years in Oregon to exotic animals. Take a look at the U.S. Humane Society's reported incidents of dog bites for a comparison (this is where you've got a point perkins -- the dogs are probably more dangerous generally speaking than snakes, even snakes like this).

Let's keep some perspective. I've lived with snakes and other exotic animals. They aren't scary or particularly dangerous. Yes, you've got to take care with some of them, but let's not get melodramatic about one incident, while forgetting the myriad dangers that already lurk in our daily lives -- makes us sound like a bunch of hand-wringing liberals.

[Jack Hectormann]

This article fits the thread so well I posted it. I saw a TV special on this recently, Fox I think. Some of you may have also. The state of Florida is contemplating putting a bounty on these Burmese pythons, said the program.

Huge, Freed Pet Pythons Invade Florida Everglades

"...For now, the alligators in the Florida Everglades are holding their ground against the invading snakes. But the odds may be changing. The park is being overrun with Burmese pythons, one of the world's largest snakes. These pythons can grow to be more than 20 feet (6 meters) long in their natural habitat in Southeast Asia.

The Burmese python is just one of thousands of non-native animal and plant species that have invaded the United States in the last decades. Florida teems with exotic creatures that have no business living there. Other regions have their own problems. Snakehead fish, for example, have infested the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.

The economic toll from damage by invasive species—and the costs of trying to control them—is enormous: U.S. $137 billion a year, according to a 1999 Cornell University study..."
Huge, Freed Pet Pythons Invade Florida Everglades

(National Geographic write-up)

[Emperor Dragon ARX]

This article fits the thread so well I posted it. I saw a TV special on this recently, Fox I think. Some of you may have also. The state of Florida is contemplating putting a bounty on these Burmese pythons, said the program.

Huge, Freed Pet Pythons Invade Florida Everglades

"...For now, the alligators in the Florida Everglades are holding their ground against the invading snakes. But the odds may be changing. The park is being overrun with Burmese pythons, one of the world's largest snakes. These pythons can grow to be more than 20 feet (6 meters) long in their natural habitat in Southeast Asia.

The Burmese python is just one of thousands of non-native animal and plant species that have invaded the United States in the last decades. Florida teems with exotic creatures that have no business living there. Other regions have their own problems. Snakehead fish, for example, have infested the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.

The economic toll from damage by invasive species—and the costs of trying to control them—is enormous: U.S. $137 billion a year, according to a 1999 Cornell University study..."
Huge, Freed Pet Pythons Invade Florida Everglades

(National Geographic write-up)

I'd just like to say I could have been responsible for an ecological collapse in Mojave Desert with my two Komodo Dragons I kept as a pet (well, it was illegal to own them, but didn't find out until several months later, then some guy bought them from me for $200/ea. before I let them roam free in the Mojave desert).

Honestly I never understood why people keep exotic animals or animals like this. I had dogs and cats and even a raccoon and later a hamster but this?

Why shouldn't people own exotic animals? If they have kids, I might agree. But hey, I've been around several exotic animals. Not at zoos either, I owned two komodo dragons while growing up, along with a mongoose, parrot, several parrakeets, and I had friends who owned diamondback snakes, coyotes, and some hawk.