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

[wfgodot]

Makes the whole vent scenario even stranger. If the snake escaped and smelled food (assuming that it went after the boys because they smelled like the animals they petted at the zoo earlier), then it would have gone straight for them...no need to sneak through ventilation systems at all.

Not sure what to believe, at this point.

 

[elepher50]

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure an autopsy will exclude the snake being the culprit, or include it....

Agreed, the autopsy should tell the tale. The python has been put down and is undergoing tests as well. Not sure what kind of tests would be done on the python but it may yield some clues as to what happened as well.

 

[Hamsterdance]

Agreed, the autopsy should tell the tale. The python has been put down and is undergoing tests as well. Not sure what kind of tests would be done on the python but it may yield some clues as to what happened as well.

I imagine they would be able to tell approximately when it last ate, to determine if it was hungry seeking food, and they can also check for the boys DNA to determine if it had even been on them (I'm assuming that if it constricted the boys, some of their DNA would be on it, even a few cells).

 

[tezi]

Agreed, the autopsy should tell the tale. The python has been put down and is undergoing tests as well. Not sure what kind of tests would be done on the python but it may yield some clues as to what happened as well.

I think the snake's autopsy will determine if it was underfed or not.

JMO

 

[tezi]

I imagine they would be able to tell approximately when it last ate, to determine if it was hungry seeking food, and they can also check for the boys DNA to determine if it had even been on them (I'm assuming that if it constricted the boys, some of their DNA would be on it, even a few cells).

Great minds and all of that Hamsterdance! I was going to put the part about the DNA, but I forgot. Thank you for clarifying what I was thinking...LOL:seeya:

 

[Penelope]

He told Global News he didn’t hear a sound during the incident and only discovered the “horrific scene” when he went into his living room, where the two boys were sleeping, on Monday morning. At that point, Savoie said he saw the snake, pinned it down and put the reptile in a cage.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/08/06/...r-in-shock-after-python-kills-two-young-boys/

The description "horrific scene" makes me believe there was more to it than just the boys laying there looking as though they were sleeping. Was there a sign of a struggle, bite marks, etc? I hope that such details are released later. IMHO the boys suffered.

 

[Sheromom]

A lot of snakes WILL take prey that is not moving.

That includes some pythons, rattlers, etc... Plus many snakes have individual preferences depending on their personalities and how they were raised to accept food.

I keep Garters which of course much much smaller but I can just place a plate of room temp food in their enclosure and they will find it by scent and gobble it up out of the dish by themselves, most garters will do that. I have had a ball python that would do the same thing. If it smells like food they will often go for it.

If I smell like food one of mine will bite the heck out of me while the other does not. When they are hungry some can be very vicious and indiscriminate little things and will bite anything that moves or smells like food.



African Rock Pythons are supposedly very afraid of humans and very aggressive if they feel cornered. Perhaps the guy was NOT home, the snake came into the room somehow and then either was frightened and attacked one kid or tried to eat one while the other kid tried to get the snake off.

Garter snakes are endangered since 1967. Mostly because people collect them and keep them as pets. I encounter MANY of them on my walks but I will never cage one.

 

[nao]

my son was visiting, and same question how would it take 2 children, would'nt one yell or fight- but then i saw the size and species of snake - oh now i understand.

the room we were in was 12 ft, which i believe is about the length of the snake, the snakes circumference was probably 8-12 inch, it could of taken 2 adults-if it was in the right mood.

The snake would of smothered the childrens upper bodies easy, snakes don't coil and stay, they just keep moving at every movement, at the end they hold tight.

Snakes once they start consuming, have a problem stopping- because they can't release, their innards only allow feed to go one way, but i did manage to get a snake to release, both snakes had an end of mouse, big snake took mouse plus other snake.

It was garter snakes that started the whole interest, they have live young, we caught one it had young that nite. i keep parts of my yard wild, snake friendly.

 

[nao]

Garter snakes are not endangered because people collect them,(maybe long time ago when it was legal to sell native species) it because people like short grass, are scared of any snakes and kill them jmo moo

 

[Solitaryone]

Python that killed two N.B. boys was in enclosure near where they slept, friend says. (globalnews.ca)

And Jean-Claude Savoie should never had that snake. Especially as a pet in his "private collection". According to the link:

http://globalnews.ca/news/764130/py...-enclosure-near-where-they-slept-friend-says/

"The four-metre python that killed Connor and Noah Barthe was sleeping right beside them, says a friend of the snake’s owner."

"African Rock Pythons are prohibited in New Brunswick. But the huge snake one friend says was part of Jean-Claude Savoie’s “private collection” lived in an enclosure in Savoie’s apartment, very close to the living room where the Barthe brothers were sleeping over Sunday night."

And:

"Savoie has been reptile-obsessed since age seven, MacDonald said. He set up enclosures of unusual animals throughout his home.

In an interview on Monday, Savoie said a government wildlife agency gave him the snake to take care of more than a decade ago, and took it in reluctantly.

“I didn’t even want the snake,” Savoie said, “but I didn’t want to see it euthanized.”

"The province’s natural resources department wouldn’t comment on the specifics of this case, citing the ongoing criminal investigation. But a spokesman noted that African Rock Pythons are banned in the province because they aren’t on a designated list of permitted exotic animals.

“The only exception would be an accredited zoo, which could apply to have exotic animals not found on the list. Permits are never issued to keep an illegal exotic animal as a pet,” spokesman Steve Benteau said in an email." "Tremblay said police don’t know whether Savoie had the proper licenses needed to keep a prohibited animal such as an African Rock Python.

“We’re just at the first step of this investigation,” he said. “It’s not an easy case.”



So not only did Savoie have this snake as a personal pet, he likely wouldn't be licensed to have this snake in the first place, especially as a personal pet. Worse, this snake was kept near where the boys were sleeping! This story is just soooo disturbing! Whatever really happened to the boys was/is hideous whether the snake had anything to do with what happened or not. The authorities must know whether Savoie had the proper licenses or not,I would think, but aren't saying anything publically for now for some reasons that we aren't aware of yet.

 

[Ausgirl]

Python that killed two N.B. boys was in enclosure near where they slept, friend says. (globalnews.ca)

Interesting how all the first reports assumed (or were told) the snake was in the shop.. now it's right --next-- to the boys. Makes a bit more sense that it got into the roof cavity from there, huh.

Now we just need to locate the 'hole' it crawled into 'underneath' that let it somehow remain visible and able to be 'pinned down' and I might just have to eat my hat.

So. Negligence slam - dunk. Anything else? We'll see, I guess.

I'd be expecting some vicious bite marks, it was scared enough to attack two boys at once. This is a highly bitey species.

 

[Hamsterdance]

Garter snakes are not endangered because people collect them,(maybe long time ago when it was legal to sell native species) it because people like short grass, are scared of any snakes and kill them jmo moo

Agreed. I still find them quite frequently in cottage country. The only info I found about them being endangered was from wikipedia, which is often less than reliable, and possibly outdated. Canada Geese used to be endangered back then as well, but now they are so abundant they border on pesty in some areas!

I did find this from the Canadian Wildlife Federation though:

"Found across Canada, from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts, the common garter snake is the most widely distributed North American snake. "
http://cwf-fcf.org/en/discover-wild...hibians-and-reptiles/common-garter-snake.html

I imagine they are just as widespread across the USA.

 

[Hamsterdance]

Definitely that guy will be facing negligence charges at the very least. I hope they release the results soon so the family will have some answers (and us!).

 

[Ausgirl]

:floorlaugh: I worked in La Place, Louisianna in the late seventies and in La Place was a huge retile farm/zoo. It had the largest pythons I've ever seen. I worked a shutdown at the local power plant and rented a mobile home in a park nearby. One morning as we were leaving for work we heard a woman screaming hysterically in the trailer park. People ran to the trailer where the screaming was and found out that the woman got up to make coffee and found a huge python lying across her kitchen counter. Police were called and someone came immediately from the reptile zoo to capture the snake. We moved to another place after that. No one could figure out how on earth the snake got into the mobile home. It was about twelve feet in length.

Oh dear...

I was trapped in an outhouse on a family friend's farm as a child - with a 9-foot tiger snake. It was high summer, and they are extremely aggressive (one chased my mother for half a mile once, they are that mean) and ofc deadly venomous. It's by sheer fate that it was more interested in getting out than in attacking me. I stood on the seat and hollered my lungs out... the adults were all out front on the porch and didn't hear me, and when they did thought I was pulling a prank. FINALLY they came to see what fuss was, and by then the snake was halfway out.

Biggest tiger snake any of them had seen, and they were all elderly farm folk. Just one of the joys of living in Aus. My nanna once found one coiled up in the works at the back of her fridge.

Oddly, I never developed a phobia. I love snakes, they are truly wonderful creatures. But I would NOT be comfortable with a big one in a room with sleeping children, that is for sure.

 

[CHERIE.T]

I'm just not buying this story. 2 locks on a cage? Yet snake breaks out of his cage, climbs through a vent , falls, making no noise , and kills 2 children at once?

Why didnt snake man and his son hear the snake fall? The children yell?
Imoo Houston, we have a problem.

 

[brighidin]

I don't know what to think. The falling through the vent story rings hollow to me. Now that we are learning more information - the snake was near the boys - I suspect the cage or whatever wasn't locked properly.

I am not sure how it would have constricted two boys without anyone else hearing what was going on, but I'm not going to do any further research. The owner seems shifty to me.

 

[nao]

from solitaryone #170

In an interview on Monday, Savoie said a government wildlife agency gave him the snake to take care of more than a decade ago, and took it in reluctantly.

“I didn’t even want the snake,” Savoie said, “but I didn’t want to see it euthanized.”

I think any big snakes you see in canada are going to be older snakes, they changed the rules quite some time ago.

if i had the choice of death by dog or snake, i'd choose snake. When snakes escape they always stay close to the walls, then go up or under, i blocked my vent system because of my snakes(i had electric and wood options) but my snakes escaped quite often, no matter how well i locked things down, i always found them, except for one who went thru the venting, he dehydrated. I did not have giant breed snakes.

What would be the reason for the man to hurt the children?

 

[wfgodot]

N.B. python attack shines spotlight on 'patchwork' of exotic animal rules. (ctvnews.ca)

 

[matou]

I've seen photos of the kids in a large snake enclosure but it was apparently an anaconda enclosure, not sure if the python was living in the same one afterwards. The glass enclosure was so big that the three kids were running around in it with hoses, including the two victims (per fb). I knew the apartment and the snake were upstairs but didn't know the snake was basically next to the living room.

 

[matou]

James Bogart, a retired professor and reptile specialist at the University of Guelph in Ontario, said it doesn't make sense to him that the snake would strangle the two boys and then leave their bodies alone.

"They're not malicious creatures — they go after things for food," Bogart said.

"It just doesn't make sense to me that it would actually strangle two boys and leave them. I'm not sure why it would kill one and then kill the other one. It really doesn't make sense."

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/06/python-attack-scent_n_3715674.html