Posted on 07/01/2009 10:45:06 AM PDT by cyn
OXFORD, Fla. -- A two-year-old girl was strangled by a python at her family's home in Oxford.
It is unknown whether the snake was a pet and how the child came in contact with the animal.
Pythons can kill by wrapping themselves around a human.
Whit Gibbons, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, told the Associated Press that "A human is just another prey item to a python -- especially a small human.
"A 20-foot python, if it grabbed one of us, would bite us and then within just, instantly, seconds, it would be wrapped all the way around you and squeezing the life out of you," Gibbons said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission have responded to the scene and are investigating the child's death.
Oxford is northwest of Leesburg.
See related recent thread: VIDEO: Burmese pythons moving north http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2278528/posts?page=47
John Cleese is a child murderer?
New Video Coming Soon on YouTube!
Pit-bull vs. Python!
“Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?!”
NOTE: NOT A WILD PYTHON — had escaped from home cage.
The snake was a family pet, not one of a fast-growing population of nonnative pythons that has been spreading in the wild in southern Florida.
more info
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/7/1/child_strangled_by_python.html
“Fish and Wildlife told News 13 that a permit is necessary to own a Burmese python, but no permit was issued to anyone in the house.”
Obviously a time for more Python Control measures. We need Assault Python bans.
This is really sad, but not much you can do except watch your child more closely. Burmese pythons have taken over the top reptile predator position in south florida, and you people with doggie doors had best watch out.
And where the heck is Leesburg?
Pythons, rattlesnakes, and pit bulls are unsuitable pets when you have small children around.
There are no bad pythons, just bad owners.
Hey that’s what AKC says about pit bulls.
Florida near Orlando.
Thanks for that additional link. Assault python is right.
Who would keep a pet python with a baby in the house?
It is illegal in most states to keep poisonous snakes without a license. Few, if any, have a rattlesnake as a pet. They are occasionally in cages in stores and state parks here in Texas, but not in anyone’s home.
Who would keep a pet python ?
We already have alligators coming thru doggie doors! Can't (legally) shoot them unless they're, what, over 3' or something?
The other thread has lotsa gator vs python photos.
I knew a couple of people who had rattlers as “pets” Certifiable. One guy kept one in his dorm room.
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