Python ‘strangles’ two boys in their sleep
Two boys die after a python escapes from its enclosure at a pet store in Canada, slithering through a ventilation system into an upstairs apartment, police say.
The boys, aged five and seven, were visiting the apartment of a friend above an exotic pet store in Campbellton, New Brunswick, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Julie Rogers-Marsh.
Police arrived at the apartment around 6.30am and found the two boys dead. A friend of the boys was sleeping in another room and was unharmed, Police Constable Rogers-Marsh said.
She said the owner of the pet store lived in the apartment and that the snake escaped from its enclosure during the night. It is thought the snake made its way into the apartment through the ventilation system.
“It’s believed the two boys were strangled by the snake,” she said.
‘Alligators, crocodiles and snakes’
The snake was captured and is in the possession of police, according to Police Constable Rogers-Marsh. Calls to the pet store were not returned Monday.
She said autopsies were to be performed on the two victims on Tuesday, but could not confirm whether the two boys were related.
“It’s very, very unusual and very tragic and difficult for everyone involved,” she said.
The town’s deputy mayor, Ian Comeau, said Reptile Ocean was licensed to operate and “everything was according to our bylaws, to the provincial guidelines”.
The deaths of the boys have been “a shock… it is unbelievable,” Mr Comeau said on Monday evening.
He said he saw alligators, crocodiles and snakes when he toured the shop with the fire department about two years ago.