OXFORD, Fla., July 1, 2009
Python Strangles Child in Florida
State Has Struggled With Containing Snake Population
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Play CBS Video Video Python Strangles Fla. Baby An eight-foot Python snake escapes its tank and entered a two-yr.-old's crib, strangling it to death, reports Susan Roberts.
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(AP)
The incident happened at 10 a.m. EDT, Sumter County officials said.
Lt. Steve Binegar of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office says a 2-year-old girl was apparently strangled by a python in the town Oxford on Wednesday. He abruptly hung up without answering further questions. Oxford is about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.
An invasion of giant Burmese pythons in South Florida that made national headlines last year was "rapidly expanding" and could reach Central Florida, according to a University of Florida study, WKMG reports.
Click here to read WKMG's full coverage of this story.
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 91 Comments
- by bannednancy July 1, 2009 1:52 PM EDT
Only ex-cops eat their guns... what's a two-year old doing strangling on a Python. Had to have been butt-first to get caught in the throat.
You have to be one of the dumbest b!@#$%^s that ever walked the face of the earth. Is it your Haldol or what. I can see why you were banned. - Reply to this comment
- Snakes are getting into the news a lot lately. I just read in our local newspaper about an elderly gentleman who was cleaning out his flower bed who was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake, causing him to be rushed to our local hospital and then on to Tulsa for anti-venom treatment.
Pygmy rattlers are thought to be rare in our area but they are seen occasionally. They are much smaller than the big diamond back rattlers but they are just a venomous and just as dangerous. Their bite causes extreme pain and swelling and if treatment isn't administered quickly, they can cause death. Thankfully this man saught treatment immediately and will be alright. - Reply to this comment
- Snakes do not make "Good" Baby Sitters!
What a country. In California, they gave a Burmese Python, a man found in his yard, Back to his Owner, "Neighbor, and said 'Have A Nice Day".
What if that'd Been a "Bag of Grass?
Or a 5 yr old annoyed Fla Girl, (Handcuffed)
A Quadriplegic couldn't stand from wheel chair, (Gets Dumped in Floor).
A man looses control of his car in raging storm, (maybe on the phone) Car falls into Rain Swollen River. He loses Half his Family, to the "River".
He escapes the "River" But before he can Grasp the "Pain, Horror, and Shock, The Government wants Him to Urinate, in a bottle And Give
Whatever "Blood" he has left "Alive" in Him, for entertainment News!
But they can't pass laws against Using Cell Phones while Driving!
Or using a Burmese Python, as a "Baby Sitter" "UNBELIEVABLE". - Reply to this comment
- Snakes do not make "Good" Baby Sitters!
What a country. In California, they gave a Burmese Python, a man found in his yard, Back to his Owner, "Neighbor, and said 'Have A Nice Day".
What if that'd Been a "Bag of Grass?
Or a 5 yr old annoyed Fla Girl, (Handcuffed)
A Quadriplegic couldn't stand from wheel chair, (Gets Dumped in Floor).
A man looses control of his car in raging storm, (maybe on the phone) Car falls into Rain Swollen River. He loses Half his Family, to the "River".
He escapes the "River" But before he can Grasp the "Pain, Horror, and Shock, The Government wants Him to Urinate, in a bottle And Give
Whatever "Blood" he has left "Alive" in Him, for entertainment News!
But they can't pass laws against Using Cell Phones while Driving!
Or using a Burmese Python, as a "Baby Sitter" "UNBELIEVABLE". - Reply to this comment
- I guess some people don't realize that a baby looks alot like food to a giant snake.
- Reply to this comment
- Someone PLEASE tell when will people learn wild animals DO NOT belong in homes ESPECIALLY with small children??????????
- Reply to this comment
- Compression shows reality. The source of the compression are these ridiculus space launches in Florida. The reality is that children are being fed to the snake of a puffed up scientific ego thinking its going somewhere.
- Reply to this comment
- bonjour,
c'est terrible pauvre bébé, une invasion de pythons rien que ça, d'ou proviennent-ils, et qu'est ce qu'on attend pour les arreter les empecher de nuire a la population, qu'il fassent d'autres victimes peut -etre..au revoir - Reply to this comment
- by ladypirate2 July 1, 2009 10:34 AM PDT
Common sense should tell you that snakes and small children do not mix! When you start raising a family it's time to get rid of the snakes!
Reply to this comment by DaVicar5 July 1, 2009 10:37 AM PDT
"Common sense should tell you that snakes and small children do not mix"
- actually, we learn that lesson from common chemistry!
by ianlou July 1, 2009 10:54 AM PDT
snakes and small children do not mix?
What do you call the process of digestion?
by DaVicar5 July 1, 2009 11:02 AM PDT
"What do you call the process of digestion?" - by ianlou
I think that when you take a really long book, and condense it down to the size of a pamphlet.
You two idiots know very well that I meant that it is not good common sense to keep a snake when there is a baby or small child in the house. Snakes kill babies and small children! That is what I meant by saying that they don't mix! - Reply to this comment
- can tell that DaVicar5 is a christian - laughing at the death of a 2 year old girl. Scummbag POS """
Or am I just swingin' and missin'?
by Berkeley_Skirt_Lifter July 1, 2009 3:15 PM PD
If you think vic is Christian (capitalized by the way) I don't know if you are "swinging" but you are definitely "missing" something for sure. - Reply to this comment
- "Python Strangles Child in Florida
State Has Struggled With Containing Snake Population"
Extremely misleading "sensationalistic" headline. The animal was a PET in the home. None the less tragic, but claiming "State Has Struggled With Containing Snake Population" is just wrong and should require an apology or discipline on the part of the reporters supervisor involved. - Reply to this comment
- I havn't read any of his "Israel" posts, but he may just be expressing his Christian support for Israel as God's chosen people, not that he would necessarily condone all of their actions. The Israelis have historically made bad decisions and been out of God's will. I'm not sure about the "killing of women/children/& handicapped that your are talking about. But I guess this is the wrong thread for that discussion anyway.
- Reply to this comment
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- Yeah, that was it, but the original is gone that was posted by hungry and I don't think I have the energy or mental fortitude right now to recreate it all...I'll just have to look outta place for now...oh well.
- by displeased July 1, 2009 1:34 PM PDT
God doesn't. The parents do.
Oh.....whatever. : ) - Reply to this comment
- by hungry1968-15 July 1, 2009 11:51 AM PDT
You can tell that DaVicar5 is a christian - laughing at the death of a 2 year old girl. Scummbag POS
_____________________
You are the hateful POS and a liar.....where was DaVicar laughing ?
You will never miss the opportunity to disrespect christians in any way you can.....a disgusting person you are. - Reply to this comment
- Non-native fish, birds, animals and reptiles should be banned, illegal to possess by anywhere but a zoo, university or research facility.
Florida native species are loosing ground to non-native species every day. Tilapia and snakeheads are taking over fresh water, iguanas and even monitor lizards are affecting bird populations and very destructive to homes and landscaping. Now python and boa populations are exploding.
Get a dog or cat people. What's wrong with you? - Reply to this comment
- by displeased July 1, 2009 12:17 PM PDT
You should have asked for two non-bratty boys instead.
I didn't know God made them that way. - Reply to this comment
- is SUDOKU a monthly puzzle??? Can I finally expect a new one next week???? How come MSNBC and UCLICK puzzles change daily but CBS puzzles do not????? How come no one ever responds to comments???
- Reply to this comment
- My sympathies to those who loved the child who died.
- Reply to this comment
- well at least the mother stopped dating the other white trash that owned a salt water crocodile....... conservatives, conservatives......
- Reply to this comment
- Great job of half-a$$ed reporting here!!
This was a really big snake 12 foot, the real article does not say if it was male or female, either way it puts the snake at over 150 lbs. What amazes me that at 10am none of the adults in the house had checked on the child???
I have a family friend who rescues big snakes like this, he has also had some of his snakes used in movies and one of his is a 12ft. Burmese Python and she is beautiful weighs about 160lbs and is friendly and likes to be touched, but when she's in a foul mood even the handler exercises great caution and he's BIG dude. He also has enclosures for his big snakes that are reinforced and probably more secure than a bank vault.
As a responsible pet owner I know that the big snakes are not a good mix with young children or smaller pets, to a big snake it is a food source. In this case no doubt the man owner the snake before this little girls was born, but just plunking a screen over a fish tank is not secure if the snake wants out.
It is a shame that this little girl died from a preventable accident. - Reply to this comment
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