The Toronto Sun
Mon, 05 Aug 2013 15:30 CDT



RCMP forensic investigators at the Reptile Ocean store in Campbellton, N.B., Monday, August 5, 2013.
Campbellton -- Two young boys who were at a sleepover in an apartment above an exotic pet store in Campbellton, N.B., were killed by a large African python that got loose early Monday.

The python escaped from the Reptile Ocean exotic pet store and killed the children, reportedly five and seven years old, who were found at 6:30 a.m.

According to deputy mayor Ian Comeau, the snake escaped and slithered through the ventilation system to the residence above where the children had spent the night.

Well before the tragedy, an online petition was asking for Reptile Ocean to be shut down.

On thepetitionsite.com, the page's administrator wrote: "The way his animals are treated is not right, and I will fight against them till something is done. Sick animals should not be around healthy ones. They should not even be up for adoption. I am disgusted by that place and will no longer step a feet (sic) in there ever again."

On its Facebook page, Reptile Ocean describes itself as an "Exotic pet store open to the public for purchase and viewing! Wonderful animals. fun for everyone."

Responding to a post by Reptile Ocean on Saturday that read "sharing is caring," one visitor to the page commented: "You know what ISNT caring...have your snakes escape and then kill some children."

QMI Agency could not reach Reptile Ocean, local police or the mayor of Campbellton.

Source: QMI Agency

I heard this story on the fox news earlier today.

I believe I heard a clip of someone saying that the python wasn't ever aggressive or something along those lines.
It's a python!
Pythons are hunters!
They're no different than any other predators!

Stupid soabs these days!

Large Snakes are becoming a big problem in Florida and they are growing large enough to eat deer, alligators, dogs, and humans. They lay hundreds of eggs.

I have an idea. We eat chicken eggs, so we should develop a market for large snake eggs. Then develop a new profession ... snake egg hunters.

They tried sending in snake hunters but they only killed about 50 snakes. There are thousands of large snakes breeding and spreading in the south. They are fast hunters. You will not see them coming.

quite possible that those Snakes are the better Hunters than those hunting them!

wouldn't want to take on a 15ft Snake!

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/animals/news-floridas-python-problem


a Body like a Steel-Spring!

The Sunshine State has a big problem, a problem about the size and shape of several 15ft long Burmese Pythons. Since the 1990s Burmese Pythons and other exotic animals have been released into the Florida Everglades by their former owners. These pythons naturally feel right at home: heat, water and zero predators to impede on their existence. Consequently, Florida finds itself in quite the python pickle as these snakes turn the delicate ecosystem on its head.

Burmese Pythons are popular-and legal-pets in the United States. Between the years 2000 and 2006 around 150,000 of these snakes were imported into the US with hatchlings selling for as little as $20. These little guys are all fun and games until one day they are 15ft long and eat more than their owners do. As a result, these overwhelmed and probably petrified owners do the humane thing: they release them into the Everglades.

Unfortunately, this has turned out to be not so humane for dozens of species of animals who have suddenly become python prey. The introduction of pythons has taken the delicate ecosystem for a spin. And let's not forget to mention how these massive pythons keep appearing in marshy Florida suburbs at which point Animal Control has no choice but to kill the monstrous snakes.

This Floridian python dilemma is nothing new. In, 2005 a 15ft python exploded after having eaten an alligator. That same year about 95 Burmese Pythons were captured in the Everglades. In the years preceding the gruesome death, tourists had already reported seeing pythons battling alligators. The pythons also pose a threat to many of the smaller animals that conservationists are trying to protect; and since the python does not have a predator in the area there is nothing to stop it from breeding uncontrollably.

The aforementioned evidence only heightens the fear that perhaps no animal is safe from this non-native snake. If thousands of alligators can’t even take on a couple of hundred pythons, then there is no way any other animal in the delicate ecosystem could survive against the slithery intruders.

Further adding to the issue is that native animals are not the only ones in danger. Florida rangers and biologists have warned time and time again that a 10 to 20ft python could easily pose a threat to an unsuspecting human, especially a small child. Just last year a 2 year old girl was strangled by the family's pet python. Fortunately, the threat to humans is not an immediate one unless people keep insisting on having Burmese Pythons as pets.

However the problem of a disrupted eco system, thanks to foreign animal trade, remains. Unless the other animals adapt to their new predator or the pythons mysteriously die off, then the Florida Everglades could be facing repercussions for years to come.

And so the moral of the story is as follows: don't release exotic animals into delicate ecosystems. Better yet, don't keep exotic animals as pets.

Sources: Science Daily, Smithsonnian, National Geographic News

I heard this story on the radio, what a Horrible tragedy!

i keep hearing scientists say this, but what they are forgetting is that it is nature, no matter if humans "interfere"... the strong wins in nature, and nature will always balance it self out naturally, whether we like the outcome or not...

So how do you think nature will balance with these snakes who lay hundreds of eggs?

We need some predator that likes snake eggs.

I cannot imagine being the parent of both young boys right now. Giving them permission for a sleepover and they're never coming home!

That is a horrible tragedy!

A snake is not a good pet. Its a reptile and an eating machine. If you have a large snake to feed, you have to buy live mice and bunnies to feed it. Cute little furry bunnies and mice.

I would hate that.

I would not object to offering a bounty for these things in Florida.
Cut off there heads.

Offer a bounty for the eggs too.

Down with these slithering reptiles!! Kill the snakes!

Cut off there heads.

OMG! Jeanie you are so brutal.

once they eat everything, they won't be able to live if there is nothing left to eat... nature always wins... it's happened billions of times on earth in the past, and it will happen billions more... if you really think about it, man is really the most invasive animal on the planet...

she hates reptilians...

me too, but just the ones from off world...

Yes, she only wants their eggs.

Yep, fresh reptile eggs.... yumm.

Those snake's eggs are huge... larger than chicken eggs.

Actually there have been studies. Decapitation is the quickest and most humane way to kill a person or animal.

Why did I know you would have researched that subject?.

Because I research a lot of things.

oh.

At least some of the "Elite" rulers of this world are always trying to find ways to reduce the population of the world or kill people in the most humane way so they can continue to feel good about themselves.

For executions, the quickest and least painful was decapitation via a guillotine.

For mass genocide, sterilization.

I find it odd that genetically modified food is testing to cause sterilization after a few generations in small mammals. Do you suppose....... humans are next?

with barry at the wheel, we may not last long enough to worry about that...