Yes, exotic snake attacks can happen here

On July 1, a Burmese python escaped its container, slinked through the house, and crawled into a crib where 2-year-old Shaiunna Hare slept in Oxford, north of Orlando and just a few miles from U.S. 27.

"The snake bit the child and wrapped itself around her body," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. "By the time the paramedics had arrived, the child was already dead."

"This is very rare," Patricia Behnke of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission told reporters.

Yes, but according to Nelson, it may start happening more frequently. More than 100,000 pythons - natives to southeast Asia - live in the Everglades. Six months ago, the senator introduced a bill to ban the importation and interstate trade of the reptiles.

Pythons, Nelson said, are "an endangerment to humans, an endangerment to the natural ecological phenomena of what mother nature intended."

Does that mean it could happen here?

Yes

"We pick up a lot of snakes," said Highlands County Animal Control Director Darryl Scott. "From January 2008 until now, we've had over 100 snake calls: four exotic, a blacksnake, a rattlesnake, a cornsnake, a coral snake. Even a glass snake."

The list includes a python and three boa constrictors. The 6-to 7-foot long python belonged to a man who was visiting his grandma. The reptile got out of its container and sauntered over to the State Farm office, so Scott got a call.

One of the boas was abandoned in a vacant house in Sun 'n Lake of Lake Placid, and found in an aquarium by the landlord. Two other constrictors came from grow houses.

Some of the pet snakes were returned to their owners. And believe it or not, there are people out there who adopt serpents.

"I ain't one of them," Scott said.

Nor is Paul Antone, owner of the Arcade Pet Stop, who frequently sells pythons, boas, and corn snakes. He doesn't handle slitherers; that's why he hires employees.

"Truthfully, I'm scared of snakes," he confessed. This week, he's selling a 5-foot iguana and a jungle carpet python, which usually eats mice, rats.

"Rabbits, even," Antone said.

Short sighted

An adult Burmese python can grow to 18 feet long and weigh 200 pounds, zoo director David Tetzlaff told the Naples Daily News: "There is no reason these types of snakes should be readily available for the public. The average person shouldn't have a snake this size as a pet. It could kill you."

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission should add constrictors to its list of Class 1 animals, said Jennifer Hobgood, Florida director for the Humane Society of the United States. Inherently dangerous wild animals can't be kept as pets - only in zoos or regulated facilities.

"Florida needs to take further action to protect people, animals, and the environment," Hobgood encouraged.

Her unlikely ally is the pet shop owner, Antone. "Who wants a 20-foot snake creeping up on you in your back yard? But the damage is done, I think. It's out of control."

For that reason, he's unsure whether Nelson's proposed law would be effective.

"They have a law," Antone said. "I can't sell to anyone not licensed or permitted to have one."

"There would have to be a paper trail," Antone pointed out. Accounting methods exist for alligators, but not for other cold-blooded reptiles.

Pet snakes must be microchipped - usually with a semiconductor the size of a rice grain behind the neck, but they're easy to take across state borders.

"This legislation alone will not eliminate the established Burmese python population in the Everglades, nor will it address the numerous other exotic species in the pet trade that harm Florida's environment and put people at risk," Hobgood said. "But this legislation will close a major introduction pathway and help prevent pythons from becoming established in other parts of country."

Mike Shepherd, owner of Pets Plus in Golden Gate, suggested to the Naples newspaper that lawmakers are trying to destroy the pet industry and Nelson's bill would make it nearly impossible to get a python.

Shepherd suggested another solution: "We should keep all the snakes and get rid of the senators."

What's next

So, a python owner has raised his snake from a baby. But now, it's a 15-foot adult, and it's too big to keep. What should he do?

"That's a good question," Scott mused.

Well, that's why there are so many exotic snakes in the wild, pet owners just dump them there. And it's why Hobgood and Nelson want new laws.

"Let's not wait for another tragedy," Hobgood implored. "The need for responsible, meaningful action, including bans on imports and trade of pythons and primates as pets, has never been more urgent."

"A little baby, killed by a snake," Scott said. "That's just pure ignorance. People always say, 'My dog wouldn't do that.' A week later, for some reason, their dog bites somebody. And they say, 'I can't believe my dog done this.' They're animals. We don't know what they're thinking."

Shaiunna Hare's death is the second this year involving a pet python and a child. Earlier this year, a 3-year-old Nevada boy was squeezed unconscious by an 18-foot pet reticulated python.In 2006, a teen working at the Tarpon Springs Aquarium was attacked by a 14-foot Burmese python. A police officer with a taser rescued him. There have been a dozen attacks since 1980.

"We're certainly seeing the frequency increase," warned Beth Preiss, director of the Humane Society's Exotic Pets Campaign.

Tetzlaff is concerned about pythons in the Everglades harming not only the ecosystem but humans. Moreover, Preiss said a study shows Burmese pythons can flourish anywhere in the southern U.S.

"It's only a matter of time before one of those snakes gets someone," Tetzlaff said.

Back to the question, is it possible for an exotic snake incident to occur in Highlands County?

"Yeah, it could happen at any time," Scott said.

Highlands Today on-line poll

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Should restrictions tighten on keeping exotic animals as pets?

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