Escaped Pet Python Kills Florida Toddler
Posted by Amber Robinson at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2009
As a confirmed Ophidiophobe, this story has scared the living daylights out of me. But then again, I wouldn’t be co-habiting with a guy who owned a giant snake.
Two-year-old Shaiunna Hare is dead after being strangled by a 3.6m pet python which escaped from its enclosure and slithered into her crib, in central Florida yesterday. Shudder.
Paramedics rushed to the scene after Shaiuna’s mother’s live-in boyfriend, Charles Darnell (the owner of the snake) found the Burmese python wrapped around Shaiunna. Mr Darnell stabbed the snake repeatedly to try and make it let Shaiunna go but she was already dead after it had bitten her on the head, he said. Vomit.
Mr Darnell told police he put the snake — which can grow to 8m in length and weigh 90kg — inside a bag in its aquarium on Tuesday night. He may be charged because he did not have the $100 permit required to keep the snake as a pet.
You know what the second worst part of this story is? The snake is still on the loose.
Investigators are now waiting for a search warrant so they can look for the snake, which was last seen hiding beneath a dresser. It is not known if the snake is alive.
[Source]
The snake isn’t on the loose. The news videos clearly show them with the captured snake. Still a chilling story, of course. I could have cried when I heard this. My mom had a python when I was a baby too…
The snake had not been captured at the time we wrote the story… glad it has been now though!