Owner did not have permit to keep python in apartment

The owner of a python that killed two young boys as they slept over at a friends place in New Brunswick this past weekend did not have a permit to house the animal in his apartment, according to a published report.

Noah and Connor Barthe, aged five and seven, were found dead in a Campbellton apartment Monday morning after an apparent attack by a pet African rock python.

Speaking with The Canadian Press on Tuesday, a spokesman for the provincial Department of Natural Resources said officials did not know the 45-kilogram, 4.3-metre long snake was being kept in the apartment, despite provincial regulations that usually require that permits be issued for pythons and other large snakes kept outside of accredited zoos.

It is not immediately clear if the owner of the python will face any charges in connection with the case as a result.

Python escaped glass enclosure

According to police, the python escaped the aquarium-like glass enclosure it was kept in, squeezed through a vent and slithered into the apartment’s ventilation system sometime late Monday night or early Monday morning.

Once it was in the ventilation system, the python fell through the living room ceiling and landed on the ground below, where the two boys were sleeping on a mattress.

The apartment belonged to Jean-Claude Savoie, whose son was friends with the boys.

Savoie, who owns an exotic pet store on the ground floor of the building, told CTV News that he trapped the snake in a cage after discovering the boy’s lifeless bodies sometime Monday morning.

The official cause of death has not been determined pending the outcome of an autopsy, but it is believed the boys died of strangulation.

“Connor was entering the second grade and Noah was so excited to join his big brother by starting kindergarten at the same school in the fall,” the boy’s uncle Dave Rose told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “They were two typical little kids who loved life and lived to the max. Their final day was spent playing with their friends, swimming and then having a barbecue.”

Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death, including how the snake escaped the enclosure.

Police are being assisted by animal experts as they investigate.

“Obviously it is not a standard or regular case, but for the police this is an investigation where there has been a loss of life and our approach is almost identical even though here we are dealing with a reptile,” RCMP Sgt. Alan Tremblay told reporters Tuesday. “It is not an easy case and we are just at the first step of this investigation.”

Snake attacks are very rare, experts say

The tragedy has generated a discussion about the sale and ownership of exotic pets, and whether municipalities should prohibit them.

Experts say such deaths are extremely rare, and it is difficult to say why the snake killed the children because some details are still unclear.

“These pythons, snakes do not hunt humans. For the most part, we are not on their list of menu items,” said Shawn Heflick, a wildlife expert in Florida. “For this to happen is really just a kind of a one-off. It’s hard to get your brain around.”

Heflick said the reptile may have been frightened after falling through the ceiling.

“It’s all speculation, but if this animal did fall through the ceiling and came to rest on these kids, it was probably scared,” he told CP24 “It’s in a place it’s not familiar with and it could have reacted negatively to those conditions.

“It’s horrific, it’s tragic, but I think people need to keep in mind this is a very isolated and insanely rare event to occur,” he added. “Pythons don’t normally behave like this, as far as killing humans.”

Veterinarian Dr. Adrian Walter said he was shocked when he learned of the incident.

“(I was) completely thrown off that one of these animals would do such an injury but, unfortunately, I can say not that surprised,” Walter said.

He described the African rock python, which kills its prey by asphyxiation, as a “mean” snake that is difficult to handle, even for experts.

“This is not an animal that should be kept by your average person,” Walter said. “This is not even a pet that should be kept by people who have a lot of experience.”

Heflick said a snake of this variety and size must be kept in a locked and secure enclosure because they are very powerful.

“Pythons who get this large are definitely a speciality item and they need to be kept by people who have the resources, who have the knowledge to be able to afford the correct enclosure and to be able to feed them because they eat a lot of food,” he said. “It’s more about proper care and husbandry and responsibility when it comes to these large animals than it is about, ‘Oh, well let’s just get rid of them all and kill them all,’ because that’s not the answer.”

Without knowing all the facts, Heflick said, it’s difficult to say whether charges are warranted.

“This has to be horrific and devastating for both families, so I don’t even want to get into the legal issues because that’s not my speciality,” Heflick said. “I know as a father that everyone involved has to be devastated, and I think it’s going to be a long time before there’s any normalcy back in these families’ lives.”

Pythons can grow to 113 kg

According to the Oregon Zoo, pythons are the largest species of snake in Africa, and they live in grasslands and savanna near water and in some forest edges in sub-Saharan Africa.

In the wild, the nonvenomous carnivores prey on larger animals, including small antelope, warthogs, dogs, monkeys, waterfowl, goats and crocodiles.

The pythons start off at about 30 centimetres in length as youngsters, and they grow to an average of 4.5 metres (15 feet), said Lee Parker of Reptilia, a reptile zoo and education centre in Vaughan.

But some snakes have grown to as long as nine metres (30 feet) with a weight of up to 113 kilograms (250 pounds), the Oregon Zoo says.

With rows of sharp teeth, the pythons are generally comfortable in an area where they have access to food, water and a hiding place, Parker told CP24.

In captivity, they may try to get out of an enclosure to look for food if they aren’t being fed enough, Parker said.

@ChrisKitching is on Twitter. For instant breaking news, follow @CP24 on Twitter.