Posted on 08/01/2007 6:45:24 AM PDT by Rb ver. 2.0
CHARLOTTE (AP) — A 15-month-old boy suffered minor injuries when he was attacked by a 4-foot ball python in a Mecklenburg County park here.
Christine Abdelmonem had taken her son, Adam, to get a better look at some ducks waddling nearby in Freedom Park on Monday. As she lowered the boy to the ground, she felt a tug and saw the snake wrapped around his leg.
She screamed for help and two maintenance workers rushed over. One hit the nonvenomous snake with a shovel before trapping it in a bucket, said Karla Thornhill of Mecklenburg Park and Recreation.
Adam was treated at Carolinas Medical Center for bite marks on his leg.
"When I pulled it off, he was fine," Abdelmonem said. "I wasn't."
John Calchera, a pet store owner in nearby Pineville, took in the constrictor snake. He thinks it may have been abandoned by a pet owner and that it won't survive being beaten.
"It's a totally harmless thing," he said. "Why attack a harmless thing?"
So is a toddler.
nc ping!
After my adventure with my first Copperhead this past weekend, I am convinced this is a bad year for snakes in North Carolina.
Apparently not for the toddler.
Thank goodness the toddlers mother was next to him.
When it's got a bite on the leg of a baby, you don't spend time consulting a veterinarian.
Always be careful not to drop your kids on a snake or other harmless creature, like a German Shepherd.
When it has its teeth sunk into a child's leg and is possibly hungry it ain't harmless!
I’m not terribly afraid of snakes. I use to catch them when I was younger...but if I was totally terrified of them, I still wouldn’t require some stranger to save my baby from it!
Snake stupid enough to latch onto my baby would find itself in pieces!
What a FREAKING IDIOT!! It's biting a CHILD. I'll bet he's all for saving baby whales and killing baby humans too. Moron.
That pet store guy needs a slap.
Well, it's a matter of relative risk. The python could grow up to be a large, dangerous reptile. But the toddler could grow up to be a Democrat. ;)
For the snake the toddler wasn’t harmless. The toddler was lunch.
That is insane!
From his MySpace page: "Help Control the Stupid population, have an idiot spayed or neutered"
However, there is this:
People talk about the moral fabric of this country. They usually use this term when talking about porn, prostitution, or gay marriage. What they don't seem to realize is the moral fabric of this country is dependant on how we all act and treat each other, not how we choose to or with whom we have sex with. The moral fabric of our society has erroded because people no longer have personal integrity or honor. It used to be that a man's word was his bond and he did not want to be thought of as a cheat, liar, thief, or any of these types of names. At some point we seemed to decide that greed and getting what we want when we want it was more important than our integrity. This is what we practice, now many people might try to teach their kids that lieing, stealing, cheating, and hurting people is wrong but like in the comercial, kids learn by example so if mommy and daddy are not nice people then their kids most likely won't either. Our jobs are very good at teaching us that getting a promotion or paid more is more important than your personal integrity since at many jobs in order to get a promotion you must either lie, back stab, or step on other people to get a head. This has been happening for a couple of generations, and look how bad it has gotten, now imagine another 50 years from now. These lack of morals, ethics, and values is what will destroy us, not porn prostitution and gay marriage.
I think he got caught up in the moment. Although, how you could call a snake a pet is beyond me.
John Calchera, Snake Whisperer.
You are assuming that the ball pyton bit the child before being smacked by a shovel. The article does not say that.
Balls are affectionate and will wrap around people.
But, people are irrationally scared of snakes in general. I was in a park, a woman saw a snake (sunning itself) and called over a bunch of big men who stomped the snake into paste before I could rescue the snake and move it.
Oh yeah, I help turtles cross roads too.
Also may not have gotten the full story from the reporter . . .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.