This is a tragic incident that is hard to believe but it is true. Two young boys, Noah and Connor Barthe, got killed by a 16ft long and 100lbs heavy python that slithered out of a small opening in its cage and asphyxiated the boys in their sleep when they had gone for a sleepover at their friend’s place. The incident took place in New Brunswick in Canada where this python was one of the reptiles held in captivity to be sold as a pet in a pet store. The young boys were aged 5 and 7 and they had gone to a friend’s apartment that was exactly above this pert store where this deadly python was kept.
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The python escaped from a small hole made in the ceiling of its glass cage and came inside the room where the two young boys were sleeping through the ventilation system. The friend of these two boys was sleeping in an adjacent room and he escaped without being hurt. Jean-Claude Savole, who is the owner of the pet store, told the Canadian Royal Police that he did not hear a sound and knew about the incident when he went into the living room in the morning. He said that he still cannot believe the mishap. Savole said that the two boys often came over to his apartment as they were the best friends of his son. He said that the python was there in his pet shop for the last 10 years and he alone was responsible for its upkeep.
A friend of the deceased boys’ mother, Stephanie Bernatchez, identified the boys and said that she is extremely sorry for
her friend. She said that it is understandable if the boys get hit by a moving truck but getting killed by a snake in a city in Canada is something that is beyond the wildest imagination. Sergeant Alain Tremblay of the Royal Canadina Mount Police said that they were investigating if the pet store owner followed the rules of the province while keeping these exotic animals and reptiles. He added that this was not a routine but a criminal investigation as two innocent young boys had lost their lives in the mishap.
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It is hard to visualize how a python so long and heavy as this one could have wriggled out of the small hole in the ceiling of its cage and made its way into the room through the ventilation where the two young boys were fast asleep. According to a later police investigation, it is possible that the python was not in a cage inside the pet store but was held in a cage in the same room where the boys were sleeping. The RCMP has found an enclosure that goes up to the ceiling inside the room. This enclosure is connected with the ventilation and the python must have been in this glass enclosure rather than in the pet store as claimed by the store owner.
