My heart goes out for the little girl that was killed in this incident. We heard
the story on the local news ( I live in Central Florida) and from what I read in
the paper, the snake was not kept in appropriate conditions/habitat. There was
no lock on the cage at all...not sure about any other details. The mother's
boyfriend may be called up on charges of animal neglect as well as endangering
the children in the home. The mother and boyfriend are both being investigated
by DCF (dept of children and families) because of the conditions found in the
home upon investigating the death of the little girl. There are other children
in the household, and they are not being well taken care of.There have
been numerous calls to local zoos, and a representative from Gatorland went on
the news and told about people wanting to 'dump' their reptiles after
hearing that this python is responsible for the death of the little
girl.  People are starting to
panic....both reptiles owners, and reptile haters.  I can't remember the exact
statistics, but it was high, regarding the number of pets that have
been released in neighborhoods because the owners abandoned them.  Personally, I
know of a woman who opened up her dryer one day and there was a huge ball python
(well, not as big as a burmese but big nonetheless) in it...it had crawled in
through the vent that went through the wall to the outside of the house. 
Unfortunately, in the 24 years I have been in Florida, these instances are far
too common.
At one point I would have thought that punishment for the parents is
cruel...because their ignorance cost them the life of a beautiful daughter.
I probably have become pessimistic these days, because of all the children I
have seen suffer at the hands of "ignorance"...the amount of children who drown
in their own pools, whose parents beat them, etc......it has to stop.
I am a firm believer that parents need to educate themselves on how to raise
children and to take responsibility for the children that they choose to have in
their household. Pet owners need to educate themselves on how to care for their
pets, no matter how big, small, species, exotic etc.... EDUCATION AND
RESPONSIBILITY....two very important words.

Sorry for getting up on the soap box----I see so many parents not being
responsible....and so many children being hurt or killed. It must be this way
all over...and it sucks! The animals should not be held responsible for doing
what comes naturally---it the owners feed them appropriately, and provide them
with appropriate housing, incidents like this would not occur.
 
Roz Wolfe
 
 
 stop by my stampin up website at  http://rozwolfe.stampinup.net
visit my blog at  http://wolfepak5.blogspot.com





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