Burmese Python Kills 2-Year-Old Baby Girl
Couple Leave Python Unlocked in Home with Baby After Snake Had Already Made One Escape
According to the Spokane Spokesman-Review, a frantic 911 call came in before 10 a.m. Wednesday to the Sumter County Sheriff's Office. "The baby's dead!" the caller cried. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby."
The paramedics arrived shortly after the call but there was nothing they could do for little Shaiunna Hare.
The pet Burmese python had gotten loose once before the night before. The second time the snake escaped its container, it went unnoticed until the next morning. When Charles Darnell, the boyfriend of the child's mother, noticed it missing, he went to the little girl's room and found it coiled around the child. He found bite marks on Shaiunna's head. He couldn't pull or pry the snake from around the baby, so he grabbed a knife and stabbed the snake until it loosened up enough for him to pry it away from the child.
According to NJ.com, authorities are considering negligence charges in the case, considering that pythons are, according to Florida law, supposed to be kept in a locked container. Some believe the couple should be charged with criminally negligent homicide for being willfully blind to the dangers of the snake.
Tales of pythons, Burmese and various others, have become part of the news recently, especially in the southern states, where the relative warmth provides their cold-blooded kind a friendlier environment. CNN reported that there may be as many as 30,000 Burmese pythons living in Florida's Everglades park and the giant snakes are becoming a menace to endangered species as well as local fauna in the area. But those stories involve pythons outdoors. Those that are kept as pets are another matter altogether.
Burmese pythons can grow up to 20 feet in length. They are carnivorous and have been known to capture and devour small animals. There have even been Burmese pythons caught with 5-foot alligators inside them.
Having an 8-foot version of an alligator-killer in one's home as a pet might appeal to some, but special precautions must be taken to preserve the safety of those that reside in the home. The Florida state law that mandates keeping Burmese pythons under lock was enacted to keep incidents such as the strangling death of little Shaiunna from occurring.
Having an uncontainable Burmese Python in the same house with a baby is tempting fate, comparable to Russian Roulette. Sooner or later, the bullet will fly...
******
Sources:
Spokesman.com
CNN.com
NJ.com
Published by Saul Relative
WVU graduate, with degrees in History, English, Secondary Education, Computer Programming, and Psychology (and nearly a degree in Political Science). Originally from West Virginia, with stints in Virginia,... View profile
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14 Comments
Post a CommentGood reporting! I reported on this as well, because I live in Florida and decided to follow the Exotic Snake issues Florida everglades have faced. I just recently completed an article about being a responsible snake owner. The parent were negligible once the facts have been looked into properly. Nice to meet you and thanks for sharing.
In America, a properly fed, well socialized burmese python is far less likely than a dog (statistics back me up) to attack a human. Both animals have care requirements and from the other articles I've read about this particular instance, those "parents" were repeat drug offenders, didn't feed their snake properly, and didn't keep it in a secure cage.
I've read a lot about this story, and there are too many circumstances that don't make sense. For one, the baby was covered in multiple bite wounds. Burmese pythons only make multiple bites if they are A) being attacked or B) the "prey" is too aggressive or fast or strong to be caught the first few attempts. A 2 year old baby doesn't fit that profile. A 6 foot python would NOT see a 2 year old as prey, and it sounds like the boyfriend is not telling the truth about what really happened.
First off, why is it that these sensationalist articles always forget to mention that both "parents" were DRUG offenders, and the boyfriend was a COCAINE DEALER. How about this: Drug addicts should neither be allowed to care for babies NOR pythons. Problem solved.
If the parents hadn't been low life drug dealer scum, then maybe the snake would have been properly fed and caged.
Dogs kill about 30 Americans EVERY year, compared to about 13 constrictor snake fatalities in the last 30 years. But since most people either have owned or currently own a dog, they can sympathize. They understand that if an abused, starved, neglected dog attacks someone, it is primarily the fault of the OWNER. Had the dog been properly fed, well socialized and kept away from very small children, then the attack never would have occurred. Same with this snake.
A burmese python should not be left around a baby any more than a pit bull should be left alone with a baby. In America, a
i think that u should killed the snak and the parents should get money form the people becaus they did not put the snak up that well!
We'll see, Rob. They can tell the difference between an abused child and whether the child died of constriction. It leaves bruisin. If the snake didn't do it, they will find out...
I don't believe the snake even killed the child. I don't believe a six foot burmese python (and that's all it was the length was embelished, in the story, and even in the 911 call) would see a two you old infant as a foot source. And it would seem an aweful lot of fishy facts. I don't think that a snake that size would require being stabbed to unwrap it, and I think that it would be more dangerous to the child. This snake realistically just wasn't that big. I think it's a case of child abuse, and the snake is taking the rap.
Pawn that b.s. off on someone else, Donna. These people and anyone owning a constrictor should realize that a constricting snake can and will regard an infant as prey or an adversary. Or how about a simple heat source? Snakes seek warmth. How about the python senses warmth, wraps himself around the source, and when it begins to struggle, bites and constricts? How about that for inevitability? Why do people constantly apologize for an animal being an animal? Regardless, you protect against eventualities. If that snake had been locked down (or not anywhere near the residence at all), this "freak accident" would have never occurred. Those adults are criminally negligent. Period.
Poor little girl, she must have been so scared. I wish i could have helped her in someway. My heart goes out to her, may you rest in peace our new little guardian angel. Hugs & Kisses..............
The parents WERE negligent--at the same time, this was a freak accident, not an inevitability. That snake was too small to be expected to consider a child as prey. Why this one did is a mystery--its behavior couldn't have been predicted at all.
People who keep snakes over 8 feet should observe proper precautions--not handling them alone, and keeping them in a locked cage.
But for the record, you should shut your dog out of the baby's room at night, too. Pet dogs have attacked and killed sleeping infants. Sometimes, no one knows why they did it, and no behavior led people to expect it. Far more babies have been killed by dogs than have been killed by snakes.
Christ, dude, they actually BLAMED THE SNAKE???? Lock em up, I say, and throw away the key! The 'stupid' snake was evidently smarter than its keepers!