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Dad Blames Florida for Girl's Death by Python
BUSHNELL, Fla. (CN) - A father blames the Florida Department of Children and Families for his 2-year-old daughter's death by a pet python, which escaped from its aquarium and bit and asphyxiated the girl.
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Gilkerson claims that the Department of Children and Families received a complaint in May 2009 that Hare and Darnell were not properly caring for Shaiunna at their home in Oxford, Fla.
According to his complaint in Sumter County Court, DCF Investigator Matthew Shelby visited the rural home and saw a "large, yellow snake in an aquarium." He says the snake was an 8½-foot-long Burmese python, possession of which requires a license in Florida, which Hare and Darnell did not have.
Gilkerson adds that DCF failed to report the snake to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, which inspects captive pythons to ensure the snakes are safely and adequately penned.
He also claims that the DCF's investigation, which lasted from May 1 to June 12, 2009, "determined that Jaren Hare was not protecting her child ... inasmuch as Jaren Hare and Charles Darnell continued to smoke marijuana in the home."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/05/42780.htm
virgogal
(10,178 posts)wryter2000
(46,037 posts)Bozos like these give snake lovers/owners a bad name. They're the same type who release their snakes into the wild when they get big. Burmese pythons are a destructive invasive species in Florida because of assholes like these. I hope these two spend long years in jail.
Poor little girl.
REP
(21,691 posts)Florida DCF needs to be razed, but he needed to take some responsibility for his own child as well.
The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)REP
(21,691 posts)Zalatix
(8,994 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,895 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)I have owned boa constrictors and sometimes had a difficult time finding live mice and rats to feed them. There have been times when the snakes attacked me thinking I was dinner. But they were only 7 feet long and no match for a 120-pound woman.
wryter2000
(46,037 posts)They probably didn't take care of the snake, either.