Python Kills Toddler: Shaunnia Hare Strangled by Family Pet

I agree. Pythons are not meant to be mantlepiece decorations. I'd never leave my kids unsupervised in a place where deadly animals lurk, no matter whose "pets" they are

WHY would anyone put their family at risk?  Pythons are NOT indoor pets! Get a golden retriever!!!!

Wild animals belong in the wild not in a cage.  The snake was only doing what a snake does.....eats. Some animal are meant to be domesticated and some are not. You can not make a snake look at you with love no matter how much you handle it!!!  Exotics need to be outlawed... I am thinking of the animals not the low life breeders and poachers!!

OK boomalan, now open your eyes and realize that we live in a world where things happen every day. There has been 12 incidents in the U.S ..(ALONE) where snakes have eaten people and 5 of them children so this is now 6. As if a python wouldn't take this opportunity to eat. Especially if it was hungry and the girl was probably only 8 kg! What the hell does it care if it is a baby or a large rabbit? It doesn't understand and have feelings and capable to pick and choose who its gonna kill! So don't be so quick to jump all over roxie if you don't know all of the facts. So what if you own snakes-that doesn't make you know it all. 

Poor little baby, I bet you don't even have children.

So you want to save lives. How many people died from auto accidents, dog attacks, domestic violence, electrocution, jobsite accidents, falling down in the shower, choking, food poisoning, venerial disease, aids, scuba diving, sky diving, and sexual interourse today? Well look up the statistics, I'm sure there will be an outcry to ban the freedoms we enjoy that causes death or injury related to these activities. LOL.....

I will say that what happened to that 2 year old child, was not caused by a Snake. The parents of that child would have if given enough time found some other way to eventually neglect their child to death. Every day thousand of children are killed by parents that shouldn't have ever had them. And it is not the responsibility of the rest of us to live a sterile lifestyle because of it.

The Snake should have been in a secure  enclosure, that is the bottom line. The guy that allowed the snake to escape and killed the child should be handled for his negligence, and so should the mother.

Hundreds of thousands if not millions of people own all kinds of exotic animals and nothing goes wrong with the vast majority of the people that keep them. There are some things that people keep as pets that I would never own. But that is their choice, and I don't condone depriving someone the right to have something just because I don't think they should have it. This type of thinking is what is leading the USA down the path of destruction, who would want to live in the perfectly safe environment that some of you liberal fools would like to force on the rest of society.

I will not be sitting safely in an approved manner of existence when you get through reading this. Instead, if a certain element of danger is involved in my efforts to pursue life, liberty or happiness. Then the bleeding heart liberals can kiss my arse.

Have a great day

Average Joe  

It is rather interesting that all the profanities and insults come from ANONS that have to hide like criminals in drive by shootings.

Well, since jobs in Pet trades are more important then Human life and Animal weal fair. 

I am sure the Python rather live in cramped Terrarium then in its natural habitat. 

I forgot we had to cut down the rain forest to produce palm oil and Ethanol for those big gas users, that some red necks persist on using and keeping on the roads just like keeping Python in a house or better yet, in an apartment. 

Those are usually also the same people that want to carry arms and play Cowboy and Indians.

ok, boomalan, I owe you an apology..not every breeder is irresponsible. I am happy to know that you are out there educating the other potential breeders and the public on owning  the exotics. I still disagree with you that they can learn to accept us as loving owners. I do wish that all breeders..this includes domestics that they would be more like you and respect the animals not abuse them. That was what I was getting about. Sorry I got so upset about it. I have rescued many and the abuse they suffer just tears my heart out. Then you get people like the man in this story... I am not saying he is a bad guy..just did not do enough research on this pet before buying it. Wild animals will always tend to be wild....

I did own a ball python when I was younger and had it from a baby to adulthood did my research first of course.  Although it was handled daily...not once did it want to curl up in my lap and get petted. My cat does this on his own free will each night. Also he is allowed outside and guess what..he comes back on his own. If you love something set it free, if it comes back it is yours, if it doesn't it never was.  

I do not think we should judge these parents....we do not know them.  How do we know that they neglected their baby. Just because they had a snake...you said yourself A.Joe it should be their choice..right?  I send my condolences out to this family. Hopefully others will learn from this and it will not happen again. Keep big dogs and big snakes away from small children. No A. Joe we can't keep accidents from happening and no I don't want to take away rights from Americans but we can learn and improve.

As for tisk tisk. I have ALL of the facts and I happen to BE a know it all. A tame snake that has been handle by people it's whole life DOES know the difference between a baby and a rabbit. And when a tame snake attacks a human, it's almost ALWAYS because the human smells of a prey aminal, i.e. rat, mouse, rabbits, possibly dogs. Now a snake in the wild may attack a human because it does not recognize the smell of a human as something that is not a prey animal. In the reports of this florida incident the man states that he put the snake in a bag and then put it in an aquarium, which kinda sounds like he found the snake somewhere and brought it home. I do not have a baby, but I am a responsible pet owner all my snakes are in locked cages and there is no possibility of them getting out. And if they did, they would not attack and children or babies.  

Average Joe, keep doin you man, excellent post.

paschen, if that's really your outlook, then I hope your don't own any cats or dogs because your living room is not their natural habitat either, which would make you a hypocrite. There are plenty of things more things killing people faster than snake attacks. Should we castrate our children at birth so that they can never die of A.I.D.S.? Should we go back to horse and carriage so that less people die in car accidents? And as for hugging trees, I'll chain myself to the one in my front yard if it makes you sleep better, I don't know what that has to do with this conversation. And my snakes don't live in cramped terrariums. And if I had to choose, given the fact that snakes live MUCH longer in captivity, I would rather live in the terrarium. And I don't own a gun or a cowboy cat.

Roxie, I accept your apology and I also apologize for being so confrontational. I also agree with just about everything else that you've said. But one thing that you have to understand is not everyone is looking for love from a pet, some pets are just fun to have. I get enough love from my dogs, my snakes can piss off if they don't love me lol. Caring for them is more of a hobby

And to whoever figured out how to delete my comments that I posted yesterday, that's very immature and just goes to prove that I am right and that you are afraid that people will see it. And now you have to admit that to yourself. I used no fowl language in those posts and there was no reason that they should have been deleted. A cowardly move......

Boomalang you seem to know a lot about snakes, as do I. I concur with you on most of your statements.

Paschen, i reviewed your profile you are very well educated and fluent in many languages, I'm impressed. But you seem to be poorly educated on this subject. I think that you should visit some reptile hobbiest websites and forums and research this topic and statistics relating to snake attacks and then compare them to attacks from other animals, especially dogs, man's best friend. It might open your mind a little.

I found all of these posts really interesting and was very impressed with Boomalang's posts. I wanted to add a few things here. It is a horrible tragedy, however, I have heard more anger at the pet then the owners and ultimately there is plenty of blame - and upon a tragedy like this we always try to find the blame - it makes us all feel better if we have the culprit.

A few things though: This was not an ordinary pet python it was a burmese python which can easily reach 12 feet - most pet pythons are Ball Pythons and these rarely grow greater then 3 feet and are fully harmless. Yet it seems that this tradgedy has led everyone to group all pet snakes into one catagory and this is sort of like grouping wild pit bulls in the the same catagory as Border Collies since they are both dogs. The other thing that everyone seems to miss is that Dogs, even docile pet dogs, have killed children and babies - truly great tragedies as well.  These cases don't make it easy to place blame on the pet or owner because dogs are usual pets and very visible. For example:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01042008/news/regionalnews/dog_kills_baby_22678.htm

But snakes,in general, have a bad reputation for a variety of reasons some reasonable and some unreasonable.

In the end, I am so very saddened that this happened and I pray for this little girl and her family. But we need to remain rational - Education is clearly a right step and perhaps this is required with ownership of dangerous species. However, keep in mind that clearly no one wants to ban all dogs because many have killed children.  

Please allow me to correct some of the misguided information about this family. As someone who has known him since his birth, I feel I am a little more knowledgable than most of the respondants here on his character.  First, the maternal grandmother stated the snake belonged to Jaren and has been her pet for 5 years. Jaren is the baby's mother.  The smaller Ball Python, Dixie, belonged to him. This however has not been widely reported. This family has been disparaged because they live in a 'small house surrounded by cow pastures'. They have also been accused of neglecting their children.  Not all of us choose to live in crowded cities and prefer to live on family land, not only surrounded by pastures, but by family and friends. They did not, and have not, neglected their children.  As the family and community greive over the loss of this precious child, please remember, though he was not her father, he loved her as his own. He will live the rest of his life with the knowledge that a mistake and error in judgement on both their parts have cost this beautiful life. Listen to his cries on the released 911 tapes. There is nothing the courts can do to punish either of them that can compare to what they will do to punish themselves.  Pray for all of us.

I agree with TomC123. Education is vital when owning or housing one of these snakes. Just like owning a handgun requires certain training, so should owning a snake or any other exotic.        

Aside from main subject, please do not refer to pitbull as vicious.  I have a little girl and two pitbulls both sweet and well-trained.  I own a ball python as well.  I am not an irresponsible pet owner, nor would I place my precious daughter in harms way AT ALL, EVER!!  But it kills me to hear stories like this, and then people want to bring up the pitbull.  How sad it is for this beautiful, spirited breed to face nationwide bans due to such BS stigma that won't let go.  See, you don't need a pitbull to hurt a child.  My friends two laboradors killed his newborn neice as soon as no-one was looking.  A name has been placed on the pit, so that when someone thinks they want to look tough, the pit is the breed they choose to raise into a monster.  But it could just as easily be done with a poodle (but those big tough guys don't want poodles do they?)  Pitbulls are very spirited, and eager to please, which is what makes them so easily trained into whatever you want them to be.  It is probably their best quality.  Yes, I have pitbulls, I have a snake, but I am not ignorant.  Just very involved with my daughters interests and needs.  She begged for that snake for three years before I got it for her.  We recieved him from some friends of ours who no longer wanted to keep him.  He is very slow moving by nature and easy to take care of.  I surprised myself when I took to him.  He is actually quite charming.  Although he is only 3 feet long, he has a large terrarium where he can bathe or climb a tree at any time.  But I keep his lid strapped shut tightly because I have heard stories.  Bottom line is that we need to make room for animals, nature, and wildlife of every kind.  Just make sure you are extra cautious where needed, and if you tend to forget things, or don't know what you are doing, then don't keep a 12 foot burmese python in the same house as your two year old!!  Snakes have a brain the size of a pea so they rely strictly on instinct.  Of course the darn thing will try to eat your kid if it had a chance!!  Hello?  If you know that you are human, and humans make mistakes.  If you know you have a big snake that could easily kill your child.  Have the common sense to put two and two together.  All you have to do is put that lid on wrong 1 time, and thats it.  Poor baby, I cannot imagine that poor child's horror :-(  I feel for the whole family, but it's hard not to be angry.  Someone needs to speak for the girl.  That's all people want to do.  Let them speak, so she can have a voice for once in her life.  I can't imagined SHE wanted the snake in the first place.  But who knows....

When i first heard of this story i was angry and very saddened.  i was angered by the parents failure to keep this python secure and deeply saddened by their loss.  i am an exotic pet owner and collector myself, and once my wife became pregnant i removed ALL of my animals that could cause harm to my pregnant wife or my child from my home.  Bermese Python are indeed beautiful animals, and by all means should be kept in captivity by "responsible" pet owners to insure the survival of the species through captive breeding programs.  snakes are notorious escape artists and a bermese python of thet size shouldnt be in a house with a small child whatsoever.  if they were properly educated on how a snake this size would look at a child this small as a food item and had a proper lock on the enclosure im sure this tragedy could have and would have been avoided.  ignorance is not a defense, and i believe that there should be some sort of action taken towards the mother and her boyfriend.  a child is dead, and hey should be punnished.

I don't feel that charging someone with a criminal charge will either bring back the child or cause any more pain than these parents feel already. Prison's and Incarceration will one day be looked upon as a digraceful flaw of our society, don't have your name recorded as pro-prison when you will one day be ashamed you ever agreed with the concept. Instead lets try practicing understanding of flaws that people make, and perhaps....one day someone will do the same for you.

I was just browsing and reading the comments and i felt compelled to say something.

To all of you people that say snakes/reptiles should be outlawed, did you know that there are more attacks/deaths by dogs then reptiles? Dogs, horses, birds, etc.. were at one time wild animals and we (homosapiens) caught and kept them until it was decided that they were "domesticated". Get a clue people, if an animal, ANY ANIMAL, is kept in the proper enclosure with the proper husbandry and food, there is little risk of something like this happening. Instead of sitting on your butts complaining about something do a little research and find out ALL facts before saying something should be banned. If you ban reptile ownership then you might as well ban DOGS as well because THEY pose more of a rick than do  ANY reptile.