Python Sneaks Up on, Bites 15-Month-Old in N.C. Park

[KelliH]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 15-month-old boy suffered minor injuries when he was attacked by a 4-foot ball python in a Mecklenburg County park here.

Christine Abdelmonem had taken her son, Adam, to get a better look at some ducks waddling nearby in Freedom Park on Monday. As she lowered the boy to the ground, she felt a tug and saw the snake wrapped around his leg.

She screamed for help and two maintenance workers rushed over. One hit the nonvenomous snake with a shovel before trapping it in a bucket, said Karla Thornhill of Mecklenburg Park and Recreation.

Adam was treated at Carolinas Medical Center for bite marks on his leg.

"When I pulled it off, he was fine," Abdelmonem said. "I wasn't."

John Calchera, a pet store owner in nearby Pineville, took in the constrictor snake. He thinks it may have been abandoned by a pet owner and that it won't survive being beaten.

"It's a totally harmless thing," he said. "Why attack a harmless thing?"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291695,00.html

 

[StinaKSU]

Someone posted that article on a non-reptile forum I use...poor snake. The way the article is written it sounds like the snake didn't bite the kid originally...wrapped around his leg doesn't mean biting...I bet it didn't bite until the mom freaked out that there was a snake... Stupid people dumping thier pets....

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

See, there are CRAZY people in NC who let snakes go when they get bored with them or they get too big.

And what is harmless about a snake wrapped around any part of your childs body?

 

[ReptileMan27]

Its amazing how they make it sound like the snake attacked the person lol. The reason the kid was bitten was because the idiot workers were trying to kill it with a shovel lmao.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

true but people panic esp when there is a child involved. I would have probably panic as well but knowing a little about snakesnot as much as the workers did.

The point is the snake should never have been lose to begin with then it could not have wrapped around the kids leg or be attacked by freaked out people.

 

[OSUgecko]

There is so much ignorance out there in regards to reptiles of any sort. I actually heard a vet student tell one of her classmates the other day that snakes were slimy - and she was dead serious. Especially considering the fact that a ton of people (especially women) are deathly phobic of snakes - ANY snakes - this woman's reaction doesn't surprise me at all. My mom would've probably done the same thing, while I would've been trying to protect the poor snake, lol.

 

[StinaKSU]

slimy?...sheesh...I didn't think people believed that anymore... **rollseyes** I definitely would have been trying to protect the snake...lol And you know...if the woman was watching what she was doing with her kid....she wouldn't have put him down on top of a snake......god forbid she'd put him down on top of a cottonmouth or something....how you could miss a 4 foot snake where you're about to put your kid down is beyond me....

 

[paulnj]

That's wrong in so many ways! releasing it, it biting a child and beating it... all are horrible in my eyes. I could see beating it if it was a larger snake that was putting the child in imediate danger, but obviously the snake wasn't on that poor child when the shovel was swung. People are so naive and uneducated about wildlife in general, let alone snakes.

 

[becky2731]

People are stupid. This fear of snakes for most people is entirely irrational. Steve and I were going to his parents place, since we live about 2 mins away, I decided to take my ball python with me to show off. They freaked out! I wasn't even allowed in the house because his mom and aunt were so afraid of it, for no reason other than "it's a snake"! My 20inch snake would do a lot less damage than her giant dog, hell even less than her 8 tiny little dogs. I'm afraid of most dogs because I was bitten pretty severely (surgey necessary) by a dog when I was eight, but I'm looked at like freak when I say that I don't care for dogs and even more so when I say I love snakes. But, honestly it just make me say it louder:
I LOVE SNAKES!!!

 

[moosassah]

If I saw a snake wrapped around my boys leg, you can bet I'd do whatever it took to get it off quickly. I don't think I'd even know how I got it off unless someone else told me thanks to mother instinct & adrenaline kicking in, especially in NC where there are a lot of venemous snakes. Thankfully I'm in MA & we only have rattlers & copperheads & good luck to ya to find either one. It's too bad some of you snake lovers weren't the ones who bumped into it. At least then he'd be in good hands.

 

[Double LY]

....how you could miss a 4 foot snake where you're about to put your kid down is beyond me....

This is the part that bothers me the most. There is no way she should have "missed" seeing the snake if she was just putting her kid down. More than likely the poor kid had probably been keeping himself occupied for some time while she was on her cell phone/smoking a cig/fixing her make-up/etc/etc/etc. If some random snake actually attacked her child out of nowhere then that is horrible, but nowadays no one takes any personal responsibility or assigns themselves a portion of the blame.

 

[Cheaton]

Ok, I'll play a bit of devil's advocate on this one. You folks have to understand that us "reptile lovers" are FAR from the majority. Fear of reptiles in people is a loooong long long looong held, almost prehistoric, reaction to reptiles. It is normal, and natural. Granted, people should have a better understanding of things in todays world, but they don't. Do not blame people for not sharing in your love of reptiles. To most people they are an alien, scary, dangerous animal... at least in their minds. You and I are a very small minority. So small a minotirty that we aren't even on the radar screen.

Alot of people have an insanely irrational reaction to snakes, and reptiles in general. I know people who are so creeped out by them they can't even watch them on TV. Just accept it and move on, do what you can for the herps and just move on. You're not changing anyone's opinion anytime soon. Sad but true....