By Faith J. H. McDonnell
Last year, the sad story of a little dog that was stalked for days and then swallowed whole by an enormous python made news around the world. The Peric family of Queensland State, Australia, had already lost a cat and a guinea pig to the sixteen foot-long snake a few weeks earlier. After such satisfying meals at Chez Peric, the python went after Scotty, the family’s Chihuahua. Stuart Douglas of the Australian Venom Zoo told the press that the Perics had actually seen the snake in the dog’s bed several times in the days leading up to the devouring. This was a sure signal that the python had designs on Scotty.
This month, a python was responsible for a far more tragic event. During the night of July 1, 2009, Charles Jason Darnell’s “pet” Burmese python escaped from its aquarium in Oxford, Florida, got into the nursery, and strangled the two-year-old daughter of Darnell’s girlfriend. According to Fox News, Darnell told investigators that he put the 8 feet 5 inch snake in a bag in its aquarium Tuesday night. When he woke up Wednesday morning, he found the python wrapped around Shaiunna Hare in her crib. Other news sources said that the girl’s mother revealed that the snake had escaped already once from the aquarium earlier that night.
In both incidents there were signs of a problem in the making. The Perics had lost two other pets to the scrub python in Australia. They had seen the python nestling in the dog’s bed! What did they think? That this was a kumbayah moment between snake and dog? And Charles Darnell’s pet python had already escaped from the aquarium once that night. Why on earth would the Oxford, Florida man not assume that the snake would escape again and take the necessary precautions? When it comes to something as dangerous as a python, warning signs should not be ignored because when you lie down with pythons, you seldom rise at all. Read more ...
Last year, the sad story of a little dog that was stalked for days and then swallowed whole by an enormous python made news around the world. The Peric family of Queensland State, Australia, had already lost a cat and a guinea pig to the sixteen foot-long snake a few weeks earlier. After such satisfying meals at Chez Peric, the python went after Scotty, the family’s Chihuahua. Stuart Douglas of the Australian Venom Zoo told the press that the Perics had actually seen the snake in the dog’s bed several times in the days leading up to the devouring. This was a sure signal that the python had designs on Scotty.
This month, a python was responsible for a far more tragic event. During the night of July 1, 2009, Charles Jason Darnell’s “pet” Burmese python escaped from its aquarium in Oxford, Florida, got into the nursery, and strangled the two-year-old daughter of Darnell’s girlfriend. According to Fox News, Darnell told investigators that he put the 8 feet 5 inch snake in a bag in its aquarium Tuesday night. When he woke up Wednesday morning, he found the python wrapped around Shaiunna Hare in her crib. Other news sources said that the girl’s mother revealed that the snake had escaped already once from the aquarium earlier that night.
In both incidents there were signs of a problem in the making. The Perics had lost two other pets to the scrub python in Australia. They had seen the python nestling in the dog’s bed! What did they think? That this was a kumbayah moment between snake and dog? And Charles Darnell’s pet python had already escaped from the aquarium once that night. Why on earth would the Oxford, Florida man not assume that the snake would escape again and take the necessary precautions? When it comes to something as dangerous as a python, warning signs should not be ignored because when you lie down with pythons, you seldom rise at all. Read more ...
Source: FPM
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