12-Foot Snake Kills 2-Year-Old Girl In Sumter County

[Principessa]

12-Foot Snake Kills 2-Year-Old Girl In Sumter County


This is exactly why I don't think certain animals like snakes, lizards, geckos, rats, mice etc. should be pets.

SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. -- A 2-year-old girl was found dead Wednesday morning in a Sumter County home after being strangled by a 12-foot pet python. The incident took place at a home on County Highway 466 in Oxford The call for assistance came in just before 10:00am, but the little girl was already dead by the time emergency crews arrived. According to officials, Charles Jason Darnell, the snake's owner and boyfriend of the victim's mother, said he locked the pet snake up in a cage Tuesday night, but when he awoke Wednesday the snake was missing from the cage. He then searched the home and found the snake on 2-year-old Shaiyanna Hare and noticed a bite mark on the child's forehead.

What a sad and unnecessary death. Her family and friends must be devastated.

Officials said Darnell then repeatedly stabbed the python. The snake was found under a dresser when deputies arrived. It's unclear at this time if the snake is dead. Another snake, reportedly a 6-foot boa constrictor, was also in the house. The victim's mother was identified as 23-year-old Jaren Ashley Hare. Both Hare and Darnell were being questioned and charges could be filed, but no decision has been made. Jorge Pino, a spokesman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said that pythons are not native to Florida and can easily grow to 10 or 12 feet long. He also said owners need a license to possess a python in the state.

Why stab the snake after it killed the child? What good does that do? I guess it was just a reflex reaction of rage and grief.

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 exploded 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.

This is exactly why I make a point never to eat anything bigger than my head. :tongue:

I get that snakes are low maintenance and great for people with cat or dog allergies. Some people just think they are cool. But special care must be taken when you remove an essentially wild animal from it's natural environment! Also, I thought snakes only ate when they were hungry? Why leave a hungry animal of any type with a small child? :frown1:

The article says the snake was in a cage, I hope they meant more of a terrarium, with a weighted lid. That's how my former house mate kept her snakes and they never got out.

 

[Xcuze]

It's not like this kind of thing happens regularly. They're freak occurrences. Although I do think it's foolish having particular animals around young children. Including certain breeds of dog.

But rats and mice? They make great pets.

 

[Incocknito]

All breeds of dog are only as bad as their owners. There are no problem breeds, only problem owners.

As for snake, they are not domesticated and as such they are completely wild. At least with dogs, there are ways to communicate with them, control them and discipline them if they display unwanted behaviours.

Saying "shh" or rolling a snake on its back probably wouldn't be effective.

The parents are at least as much to blame as the snake. In fact the snake was acting on instinct and to the snake the baby was prey. So I actually can't see how the snake was to blame as instinct isn't a moral code, it is what it is.

Its sad that the parent involved had to learn the hard way why wild animals don't make good pets.

 

[transformer_99]

Turns out the snake measured in at 8.5 feet. Doesn't matter with women (the news video), whether it's a snake or a penix, 8.5 always turns into 12, regardless whether it's feet or inches ?

Anyway, I agree animals are meant for the outdoors and there are some animals, no matter how much their owners want one when the animal is a baby, both the developing and the adult versions are simply too dangerous to domesticate.

 

[HellsKitchenmanNYC]

There was a report on 20/20 or dateline or some such show about people who are nuts enuf to own different monkeys and expect them to act like their children. Most of the people were eventually attacked by the monkies or had to give them up because they couldn't be tamed.
A snake that big should never be w/o a clamp on the cage or a locked door esp when children are around.
This is a sad event and yes accidents do happen even w/really responsable adults. Who knew alot of children are strangled every year by the cords on venetian blinds etc.

 

[2322]

A rock on top of a cage for an 8 ft. python isn't enough. Snakes are pure muscle and a snake that long is about as strong as a healthy human male. Snake cages need complex latches, strong hinges, and a way to keep the snake from using leverage to escape. Reptiles are pretty damn primitive for the most part and they don't know what or who is food and who isn't. If it's the right size, temperature, scent, and the snake is hungry, then the snake will eat it. They do not develop affections or know who people are though they may recognize patterns of behavior in people. The only snakes I've ever met who displayed any kind of more complex behaviors and thought processes are king cobras. They are probably the most intelligent of snakes, however (and be thankful they are).

 

[transformer_99]

YouTube - snake kills man

All kinds of videos, animals vs animals, animals attacking people.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

"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 exploded when it tried to eat it."

Here's the pic:

 

[transformer_99]

See, more foolishness. Talk about a "child putting his hand on a hot burner" experience, this kid will stick his hand on the Cobra and get bitten. If he lives thru the experience, hopefully he'll learn to never do that again ? But you never know ? I'm certain the idiot, retard parents will be remorseful in the event the child dies ?