Python Kills Baby - Parents Arrested

Stories like this make me too mad to see straight.   In Oxford, Florida, an 8.5 foot Blond Burmese python squeezed a two year-old girl to death.   The mother and her boyfriend (pictured above) woke up to find the huge snake wrapped around the two year-old and couldn't get it off before the girl had been killed.

The snake was their pet.   It had escaped its cage during the night and attacked the child.   The child had several bites from the python.   The couple also owned a 6 foot boa constrictor, but it was found by authorities still in its cage.

The mother and her boyfriend were both arrested and jailed pending $35,000 bond (each).   They have been charged with Manslaughter, Third Degree Murder and Child Abuse.   They are also being investigated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, because they did not have a required permit to keep the snake as a pet.

Just what the hell kind of idiots are these parents!   How could they keep such dangerous animals in the same house with their helpless two year-old child?

I am a big believer that if you own any kind of animal, you are responsible for anything that animal does -- including murder.   If your dog tears up the neighbor's flowers, you are responsible.   If you horse or cow tears up someone's fence, you are responsible.   And if your snake kills a child, you are responsible.   

It doesn't matter at all that you didn't want the animal to commit the act.   If you own the animal, then you should have to pay the price for whatever that animal does (and don't even bother trying to tell me you couldn't prevent the animal from "escaping" or "breaking out" of whatever enclosure you had them in).

And personally, I don't see any difference between this snake attacking a child and a pit bull or doberman attacking a child.   In both cases, it's your animal attacking a defenseless child   If you attacked and injured a child, you would be charged with a serious crime.   Why should it be any different because you let your animal do it?