Canada - Connor, 6, & Noah Barthe, 4, killed by python, Campbellton, NB, 5 Aug 2013

[lonetraveler]

Why didn't the snake try and eat another animal in the store? Why did it kill BOTH kids instead of eating one it had killed? The owner found the snake in a hole in the room somewhere apparently, it couldn't have been that hungry.

Exactly! He is trying to say that the snake constricted around both children at the same time!! I have to wonder if this was an attempt to cover another crime. Snakes constrict prey in order to eat it. So why didn't the snake eat one.....I agree with you totally.

 

[sweetcaro]

This is just so horrifying and sad.

 

[airplanelamp]

If the apt is on the second floor, wouldn't the ductwork/ventilation system come through the floor rather than the ceiling...especially given that it is a flat roof building not a peaked roof? (It does in my house) And, AFAIK it is usually made out of sheet metal. I am having a hard time picturing the snake punching through the ductwork and then through plaster or drywall to "drop down" from above onto the boys. Something isn't sitting right with me on this.

 

[meanmaryjean]

Hinky-meter's needle just buried on the 'strange' side......

MOO and all that jazz

 

[matou]

I found the Reptile Ocean place in street view and this place is actually on the second floor of the building. There are stairs leading up to a sign for the entrance of the store. The main floor is something else, dog grooming or similar. I think this means he was living upstairs with the animals. JMO

2 Pleasant Street, Campbellton, NB.

More info here at Daily Mail with photos of the two boys and their names and the owner of the store, mother and more snakes.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...es-2-boys-5-7-sleep-New-Brunswick-Canada.html

 

[matou]

Does this guy have a kid? He said so in his phone interview. He doesn't mention any kids in his fb at all.

 

[zoomom]

Pythons (Burmese & Rock) are usually more aggressive than Constrictors. Pythons are "Old-World" snakes, and different than boas (New World). Snakes don't punch through anything. They do seek heat. Pythons are notorious for striking at their owners that are trying to give them food. IMO, MOO, JMO - the python either curled around the kids initially seeking heat, and could easily and quickly tighten to crush OR it was hungry and struck at "prey" and then curled around them to incapacitate. That's what they do. They are incredibly strong.

I am very sorry for this terrible tragedy for the family.

Snakes don't eat their prey- they swallow them whole. No kid got "eaten" (like a wolf or Lion would rip bites out of you). I don't think a 14 footer could swallow anything bigger than a rabbit or small dog.

SORRY!

Again- JMO, MOO, IMO.

 

[Hamsterdance]

More information:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/05/escape_snake_kills_two_new_brunswick_children.html

Just horrible Apparently, the boys were at a sleepover at their best friends place above the store, and that boys Dad owned the reptile shop and found them the next morning.

 

[CHERIE.T]

So tragic.

 

[southernnana]

It was a sleepover for his son and the two little boys, ages 5 and 7, that were killed ... and they were sleeping in separate rooms???

Does this guy have a kid? He said so in his phone interview. He doesn't mention any kids in his fb at all.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2013/08/05/nb-two-die-boa-attack.html

Reptile Ocean owner Jean-Claude Savoie was hosting the two boys, aged five and seven, for a sleepover with his own son.

Savoie reportedly found the two boys Sunday morning and called 911, police said. His son was in another room and was unharmed, police say.

 

[matou]

I think he explains it as they wanted to play his xbox and were sleeping on the floor. I agree though, usually friends sleep in the same room together.

 

[matou]

Open since 1995, Reptile Ocean used to be a small zoo before it shifted its operations purely to retail and incorporated the property’s upstairs animal enclosures into an apartment for Mr. Savoie.

The snake occupied one enclosure, while the other two were used for crocodiles.

“How he got loose, I don’t know, because ever since Jean-Claude got full custody of his child, every cage had two locks on it, and one of them was a master lock and the keys to that were hung up in the laundry room,” said Mr. Thomas.

“Jean-Claude loved them kids and he would have never, ever put them in danger at all,” he added.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...nstrictor-escapes-in-campbellton-n-b-reports/

 

[matou]

I think child custody is going to be a problem for the store owner now if the enclosures are in the same place as his apartment and a dangerous animal was able to get loose and kill two kids. JMO

 

[Ausgirl]

I think it'd be a bigger problem if the snake was just staging/blamed for something more sinister..

Nothing is making me feel less hinky, as more info arises. I am 99% convinced the snake which killed those kids ain't the legless kind. IMO.

 

[Hamsterdance]

I think it'd be a bigger problem if the snake was just staging/blamed for something more sinister..

Nothing is making me feel less hinky, as more info arises. I am 99% convinced the snake which killed those kids ain't the legless kind. IMO.

The autopsies should reveal everything. I would think that a snake would kill it's prey by squeezing it's body, not neck (articles mention strangulation).

 

[teedie2]

The two children who died were on a sleepover with the pet shop owner's son ... where was pet shop owner's son when the brothers were killed? Seems like all three boys would have been together.

The brothers' mother lived next door to the pet shop, but the father had custody of them. Or is the father the roommate of the pet shop owner?

Do I have this straight?

What a horrible accident-event-whatever. Those poor little boys.

 

[LarkBunting]

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
Those poor kids.

 

[nao]

jmo - the snake was chasing a rodent scent thru the ceiling, it may of struck at something and popped a hole in the ceiling or just its weight caused a collapse. If the snake is excited anything that moves they'll have a go at, and they are not tidy in constricting, they will just try and subdue all movement.

The boys would probably have a startled movement when the snake landed, the snake would just react to the movement.
It would of been very quick, the snake would hold and keep coiling till movement ceased.

I had smaller snakes but it was quite the learning curve. i learnt to ball my hand up into a fist if i wanted to handle them when there was feed around, and then let them scent me, otherwise some of the more enthusiastic feeders would go after my hand, they would release once they realized their mistake.

And some were very intent on escape, they would push at their enclosures looking for weakness or mistakes. i had one that figured out how to open the sliding glass of its enclosure, though none of the others of its variety even tried. Mine maxed at 6ft. Also the snake, being domesticated, would relate human scent to food source. moo

 

[kmclaren]

Noah (5) & Connor (7) Barthe, RIP little guys...

 

[tiredblondy]

Beautiful updated pictures of the boys here. I hope someone can post them here from this article. Sounds like they were so close and just happy children.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...es-2-boys-5-7-sleep-New-Brunswick-Canada.html