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Serpo
6th August 2013, 01:48 AM
Good fricken grief...........

First pictures of brothers, age 5 and 7, who were crushed in their sleep by 16-foot python that slithered into their room through a vent

Boys were sleeping over at an apartment above the Reptile Ocean pet store in Campbellton in New Brunswick, Canada
Serpent escaped its cage and slithered up to the apartment through the air ducts (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385145/Python-strangles-2-boys-5-7-sleep-New-Brunswick-Canada.html#)
Punched a hole in the ceiling and dropped onto boys who were sleeping
Royal Canadian Mounted Police have seized the snake and are investigating

By Michael Zennie (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Michael+Zennie)
PUBLISHED: 22:17 GMT, 5 August 2013 | UPDATED: 07:17 GMT, 6 August 2013


Two small brothers, age 5 and 7, have been tragically strangled to death in their sleep in Canada, by a massive 16-foot python that escaped from a pet store below the apartment where the children were staying the night.

The first pictures have emerged of little Connor and Noah Barth, who were sleeping soundly when the 100-pound African Rock Python fell from the ceiling and attacked them.

The boys were spending the night with Jean-Claude Savoie, who lives above the Reptile Ocean pet store that he owns in the tiny New Brunswick city of Campbellton. Reptile Ocean is home (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385145/Python-strangles-2-boys-5-7-sleep-New-Brunswick-Canada.html#) to a veritable menagerie of exotic animals, including crocodiles, tarantulas, tortoises and at numerous snakes.

Mr Savoie described to Global News (http://globalnews.ca/news/762560/escaped-python-strangles-kills-two-children-in-new-brunswick/) how he walked into the living room and found the two boys dead about 6.30am on Monday. He found the snake coiled in a hole nearby.

He said the creeping serpent slithered upstairs into his apartment through the ventilation ducts and creeped into the ceiling.
Scroll down for video
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/06/article-2385145-1B29FEEA000005DC-827_634x475.jpg Tragic: Little Noah and Connor Barth were killed by a massive python in their sleep after it escaped from its cage


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/06/article-2385145-1B2A0172000005DC-695_634x428.jpg Curious: Noah and Connor, seen here handling a corn snake called Mr Slithers, were fascinated by animals, a neighbor tells MailOnline






http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/06/article-2385145-1B29F6D7000005DC-193_634x422.jpg Big snake: This anaconda is believed to be one of the very large snakes Jean-Claude Savoie kept at his Reptile Ocean pet shop



It then fell through the ceiling and dropped onto the small boys from above. Mr Savoie said he believes the snake coiled around both children and crushed them as they slept together on the floor.

The National Post (http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/05/two-children-die-after-boa-constrictor-escapes-in-campbellton-n-b-reports/) reports that the snake was a 14 to 16-foot African rock python that even its owner said was 'vicious' and was rarely handled.

Tim Thomas, a former Reptile Ocean employee, told the newspaper that when he learned of the tragedy, he immediately called Mr Savoie's best friend, Mandy Trecartin, who told him it was her boys who were killed.



Neighbor Diane Fournier confirmed to MailOnline that it was Connor and Noah who had been killed.

She described how she often saw the brothers happily playing together outside. They were fascinated by animals, she said, and often came over to pet her dog.

'The kids were always playing and laughing. They were really full of joy and lots of energy,' she said.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/06/article-2385145-1B29EA0F000005DC-348_634x474.jpg Shocked: Jean-Claude Savoie, who describes himself as mother Mandy Trecartin's best friend, said he has no idea how the snake slithered into the room where the boys were staying



http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/06/article-2385145-1B29FEE2000005DC-15_634x685.jpg
Safe: Mandy Trecartin had left her two sons with her best friend Jean-Claude Savoie. She lives in the apartment behind the pet store





http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/05/article-2385145-1B299264000005DC-473_634x475.jpg Horror: The snake escaped from Reptile Ocean, a pet shop in the small city of Campbellton, New Brunswick. It crawled into an apartment above the store
Pics from scene. Brothers crushed in their sleep by 16-foot...
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/06/video-undefined-1B2AC681000005DC-321_290x163.jpg





Facebook photos show both of the boys handling a small corn snake - called Mr Slithers - owned by their mother.
Ms Fournier told MailIOnline that Mr Savoie operated Reptile Ocean as both a pet shop and as a zoo.

He kept numerous snakes and lizards and small crocodiles to sell, but he hosted tour groups.

'He always had kids going in there to visit like school kids and groups,' she said.

Ms Fournier said she she herself has touched the snake that is believed to have killed the boys. He often showed it off and kept it in a locked cage, she said.

The boys are brothers, the children of Mr Savoie's best friend. He said they often sleep over at his apartment.

'I thought they were sleeping until I (saw) the hole in the ceiling. I turned the lights on and I (saw) this horrific scene,' he said.
'(The snake) went through a ventilation system. I don’t understand how it did it. It went through the ceiling... and the snake fell through the living room from the ceiling,' he said.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/06/article-2385145-1B29CC62000005DC-809_634x422.jpg The snake in question was an African Rock Python, said to be 14 to 16 feet long. Even the owner admitted it was 'vicious'



The snake is not usually handled by anyone in the store and Mr Savoie said he does not know how it escaped its cage in the pet shop.
He said he has owned the giant snake for more than a decade.
'My body is in shock. I don't know what to think,' he told Global News.

The horrifying deaths of the two children shocked residents of the small city of 7,400 in northern New Brunswick.
'It’s very nerve-wracking. If one got out, how many else got out,' Ms Fournier said.

Police said an autopsy Tuesday will confirm the exact cause of death, though officials believe the boys were crushed to death by the snake.

Mr Savoie said he captured the snake and turned it over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who are examining the creature.
An RCMP spokeswoman said the major crimes unit is investigating the case and will determine whether any criminal charges should be filed against the owner.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385145/Python-strangles-2-boys-5-7-sleep-New-Brunswick-Canada.html

mamboni
6th August 2013, 06:18 AM
BOOK was vacationing in Canada too?

madfranks
6th August 2013, 06:36 AM
Why is the guy in the car not wearing a shirt?

General of Darkness
6th August 2013, 07:30 AM
Horrible story.

Hitch
6th August 2013, 10:29 AM
Horrible story.

Having had large snakes in the past, this story is like a punch in the gut. African rock pythons are extremely aggressive. You can't be careless in having them as pets.

I had two boas. One was a little temperamental, the other one was a total sweetheart. They both got to be around 7 feet or so. I ended up giving them away, then got a baby python, Burmese. That python was extremely aggressive and could not stop eating. Grew like a weed. When he got around 4 feet, very quickly, I thought there's no way I want this animal when he gets bigger, up to 12 feet or so. Gave him to a pet store.

Rock pythons are even worse. At 16 feet just an accident waiting to happen. And it did, and two young boys lost their lives. Tragic, stupid, on the owner's part.

horseshoe3
6th August 2013, 10:35 AM
Why is it that everything with "African" before it's name is extremely aggressive?

African rock python
African honeybee
African American

Hitch
6th August 2013, 10:38 AM
Why is it that everything with "African" before it's name is extremely aggressive?

African rock python
African honeybee
African American

African elephant the most aggressive. The African black rhino too.

Here's a good article on the African Rock Python.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130806-african-rock-python-snakes-canada-killed-boys-world/

Hitch
6th August 2013, 10:49 AM
Also, to add to the fear factor in this thread...buying and selling exotic poisonous snakes is a multi million dollar underground business in the US.

You never know what your neighbors may be keeping in their homes. When I was a kid, the local newspaper printed a warning story to alert the town. Some guy called the police anonymously and said, "my pet black mamba snake escaped, thought you'd like to know."

Black mambas have a 100% mortality rate. They bite you, you die. The poison is so strong. Furthermore, they hide in trees and drop down on their victims/prey. That moron had one as a pet, and scared all us kids in the town when his pet escaped.

Glass
6th August 2013, 08:29 PM
Why is the guy in the car not wearing a shirt?

This was my thought. I don't think the whole story has been told here.

Tumbleweed
6th August 2013, 08:45 PM
If it were up to me I'd chop the head off that cold blooded, slitherin SoB. I was at an art show one time and a guy brought a snake like that. there was a little kid there and the snake handler warned his mother to keep him back because the snake might go after him.

Serpo
6th August 2013, 08:57 PM
it came from below

Glass
7th August 2013, 08:13 PM
http://l.yimg.com/ao/a/snakevictims130808_630_1.jpg

The mother of two small boys strangled by a 45kg python in their sleep earlier this week in Canada had posted photos on Facebook last year of the boys playing in and cleaning her neighbor's snake enclosure.
Mandy Trecartin's Facebook page has hundreds of photos of her sons, including a few showing Noah Barthe, 4, and Connor Barthe, 6, happily scrubbing the glass enclosure, which she identified as an anaconda habitat. It was not clear whether the enclosure is the one that held the python.
A preliminary autopsy shows the boys died of asphyxiation as it was revealed that a snake found in the same room may have thought they were prey after they had spent the day around farm animals.



link (http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/18410886/python-victims-smelled-like-prey/)

midnight rambler
7th August 2013, 08:18 PM
The kids had the odor of farm animals on them. It's been reported that the rock python had escaped its enclosure recently and all the owner did was place it back in the enclosure without addressing whatever it was that allowed it to escape its enclosure. Pure stupidity - having a very dangerous creature in the same building with those two kids and not taking appropriate precautions.

ximmy
8th August 2013, 12:40 PM
Why is it that everything with "African" before it's name is extremely aggressive?

African rock python
African honeybee
African American

what is more aggressive
the african black mamba
or
the american black mama

madfranks
8th August 2013, 12:45 PM
what is more aggressive
the african black mamba
or
the american black mama

Classic!

ximmy
8th August 2013, 12:51 PM
Classic!

we could do a reality show

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black-woman-attitude_4523.jpg
vs
http://www.blackmambas.net/pictures/Black%20mamba%20snake%20eating.jpg

Stop Making Cents
8th August 2013, 01:28 PM
These snake owner freaks have the same idiotic mentality as your typical black pit bull owners. Gee I had no idea it was a bad idea to have these evil creatures around little kids. Not my fault.

madfranks
8th August 2013, 01:42 PM
we could do a reality show

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black-woman-attitude_4523.jpg
vs
http://www.blackmambas.net/pictures/Black%20mamba%20snake%20eating.jpg

I wouldn't want to be in a room alone with either one, although my chances of escape are probably better with the snake.

horseshoe3
8th August 2013, 01:48 PM
what is more aggressive
the african black mamba
or
the american black mama

You had me going for a second. I was about to google "american black mamBa" when I realized what you actually wrote.

Rubberchicken
8th August 2013, 02:55 PM
Tragic. Things happen for a reason. But sometimes that reason is because of stupidity and poor decision making.

Jewboo
8th August 2013, 03:42 PM
The mother of two small boys strangled by a 45kg python in their sleep earlier this week in Canada had posted photos on Facebook last year of the boys playing in and cleaning her neighbor's snake enclosure.





http://www.demotivationalposters.org/image/demotivational-poster/1001/the-darwin-awards-stupid-alligator-crocodile-darwin-pwnage-demotivational-poster-1263246696.jpg




The kids paid for it but the mother won the award.

:rolleyes:

gunDriller
8th August 2013, 04:13 PM
Mr Savoie said he captured the snake and turned it over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who are examining the creature.
An RCMP spokeswoman said the major crimes unit is investigating the case and will determine whether any criminal charges should be filed against the owner.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385145/Python-strangles-2-boys-5-7-sleep-New-Brunswick-Canada.html

how is it not negligent homicide ?

the snake was just being a snake. probably confused out of its wits, in a very un-natural environment. evolved to kill and eat deer in the jungle, and it finds 2 young boys the size of a deer.

it sounds a little like a great white shark attack, where the first bite is a test. a rather harsh test for the person who gets bit. usually the shark realizes, "this is not food".

it sounds like the snake had second thoughts after it killed the first boy. instead of eating him, it moved on to the second boy.


i wouldn't like to see it killed but that might be what happens. might be some good meat there.

Hitch
8th August 2013, 05:07 PM
it sounds like the snake had second thoughts after it killed the first boy. instead of eating him, it moved on to the second boy..

I agree with you, except for this. I don't believe snakes really have thoughts, as we like to label thoughts.

I didn't want to post this morbid point, but I'm surprised the snake didn't eat the boys. A 16 foot snake could easily eat a small boy. Snakes just see food, if it's warm, moving, it's food. It may not smell like normal food, but if a snake could eat a person, even one strangled/killed by mistake, it would.

Same with a shark. They find car parts in shark's stomachs. I think the test bite you are referring to, is really a kill bite. Sharks bite, then often wait for the prey to die, then go in and feast. When people are attacked, they fight and swim away. Or their buddies come help. The people attacked by sharks were intended to be killed by the shark, but they got away.

Whether to kill the snake for being a snake, that's up to opinion. As pointed out, this species of python is overly aggressive.

If it helps the family of the lost grieve and cope, kill the thing. Imo.

gunDriller
8th August 2013, 05:40 PM
I agree with you, except for this. I don't believe snakes really have thoughts, as we like to label thoughts.

I didn't want to post this morbid point, but I'm surprised the snake didn't eat the boys. A 16 foot snake could easily eat a small boy. Snakes just see food, if it's warm, moving, it's food. It may not smell like normal food, but if a snake could eat a person, even one strangled/killed by mistake, it would.

Same with a shark. They find car parts in shark's stomachs. I think the test bite you are referring to, is really a kill bite. Sharks bite, then often wait for the prey to die, then go in and feast. When people are attacked, they fight and swim away. Or their buddies come help. The people attacked by sharks were intended to be killed by the shark, but they got away.


sharks attack and bite moving boat propellers. that has to be rough on the teeth.

Yes, the test bite is also a kill bite. the shark is expecting another meal, then encounters something boney (a human), and frequently backs off.

but it's true, most people wouldn't like it if they had just been bitten and their surfing buddies said, "Hey ! we'd like to do an experiment. we want to see if the shark comes back and finishes you off."

http://www.fearbeneath.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/sharkattack1.jpg

that's one of the best pictures i've seen of a shark attack.


as far as the snake, i would not pretend to be the Snake Whisperer. i think i'm closer to being a Shark Whisperer or a Chicken Whisperer. :)

i imagine it to be like having one core snake-thought, along the lines of "it's eating time. it's constricting time."


when a shark does get a taste for human flesh, i think it is practical to do what they do in Australia, and kill it.

but i don't think the snake deserves such a fate.


i propose they put the snake owner in a cage with a 20 foot anaconda or reticulated python.

Hitch
8th August 2013, 06:30 PM
http://www.fearbeneath.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/sharkattack1.jpg

that's one of the best pictures i've seen of a shark attack..

That's a gruesome photo. No doubt that poor fellow had been dead for a bit though, can't live long with your liver gone.

With snakes, I've grown up catching them my whole life. Snakes need to be kept fed. When they get hungry, anything is food. I reckon that's the mistake this man made in this thread, he had an aggressive hungry 16 foot snake.

When snakes get hungry enough, anything is food, even if they can't swallow it. There's stories of large snakes killing deer size animals, and failing to swallow their kill.

The thing I learned about snakes is that they are actually fairly high maintenance. You have to handle them often to keep them friendly, and you have to keep them well fed.

What I trained my boas, was that feeding was NOT in their cage. I trained them not to associate food with inside their cage, so when I'd take them out, they didn't go into 'feed' mode. I had a separate large plastic tub I'd put them in. They learned, as soon as they were in that tub, they got really active, their tongues when nuts, and they would snap at anything I put in there. It was food, and they knew. That took time, but once they knew they would get fed on time, never go hungry, and where to eat...never had a problem with them.

I think you are right, the owner of this huge dangerous snake wasn't taking care of him properly. That is what cost those two boys their lives. Negligence and stupidity should have to pay their due price.

zap
8th August 2013, 06:46 PM
Jes ,give me a graphic warning first gun-Driller !! and your liver is on the opposite side Hitcher.

I feel for the families.

ximmy
9th August 2013, 10:17 AM
looks like the shark had his ass...