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Python Breaks Out, Strangles Child
07/01/09 - 02:45 PM
Associated Press
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click for larger image Tallahassee, Fla:

A 12-foot pet Burmese python broke out of an aquarium and strangled a 2-year-old girl in her bedroom Wednesday in a central Florida home.

Lt. Steve Binegar, of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, said the toddler was strangled by the snake in the town of Oxford, about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.

Pythons can kill by wrapping themselves around a human.

The Humane Society of the United States said including Wednesday’s death, at least 12 people have been killed in the U.S. by pet pythons since 1980, including five children.

A spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says that pythons are not native to Florida and can easily grow to 10 or 12 feet long. Owners need a license to possess a python in the state.

Some owners have freed pythons into the wild and a population of them has taken hold in the Everglades. One killed an alligator and then burst when it tried to eat it. Scientists also speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing since.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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