REXANO, www.REXANO.org Editorial By Zuzana Kukol
Every time there is a tragic or unusual accident, the media gets into heated hysteria to milk the story. Meanwhile uninformed legislators are happy to appease many special interest groups by proposing to pass feel-good bans, based on pure emotion and hysteria, instead of science and facts, mostly resulting in the waste of tax payers’ money and not increasing public safety .
These Neanderthals especially love the fatal exotic animal mauling accidents, with python attacks being some of their favorite lately.
Over one week ago, one kid in Florida was killed by a pet python, which was kept illegally. Just few days earlier in June, two kids were killed by dogs, one in Illinois and one in Texas. Numerous other children died in car or swimming pool accidents, yet, their story is not turning into hysterical circus. Dead is dead, why does it matter how the kid died? The family misses them no matter how they died, so why is one killed by python getting more public sympathy? Â
The reason is simple: private owners of captive exotic animals have been coming under ever increasing attacks from the media bandwagon, mostly fueled by the agenda of the AR (animal rights) activists groups. These organizations, under the guise of pretending to care for public safety, hide their real agenda: to end the captive keeping of all animals.
The best method of discrediting the claim that captive reptiles are a public safety issue, and to show no need for additional regulation is to look at the real numbers. Facts don’t lie. 
Since 1990, captive non-venomous (constrictor) snakes in the USA killed 0.47 people per year (9 killed in the last 19 years, all of them owners, handlers, keepers,family, NOT the general public).Â
Three of the deaths caused by large constrictors occurred to the children of the snake owners, at their own home. That is 0.15 kid killed per year by captive constrictor in the USA since 1990. In the older cases, the parents were charged with child endangerment, some also with reckless endangerment and involuntary manslaughter.
It doesn’t matter if the child died as a result of an animal attack or by other everyday activity, like drowning in the pool. The parents are responsible for their children and other responsible legal owners of exotics should not be punished with unfair bans, because of parental mistakes of others, who just happened to be fellow exotic animal owners.
 None of these deaths were the result of the snakes being unsupervised off the private owners’ property. Instead, all victims were voluntarily on the property where the animal was kept, be it owner(s) or family members. Captive keeping of exotic animals might be a slight voluntarily accepted hobby/occupational hazard, but it is NOT a public safety issue.Â
It never ceases to surprise me how people fear exotic animals, and react to their fear of the unknown with hysteria, instead of educating themselves.  In comparison, 45,343 people died in 2005 in traffic accidents, 48 by lightning, 1,690 by falling down the stairs and 16,692 by murder or involuntary manslaughter. Â
For more etailed info see the 1990-2008 statistical tables on human fatalities caused by captive constrictors in PDF format.
Copyright © REXANO 2009
13 users commented in " Python Attacks And Hysterical Politicians. "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackIntroduced species into the wild cause problems in native ecosystems. Responsible pet owners are not the problem. The problem is with those who buy an exotic pet (wow, really cool) then “free” it when it grows too large to handle or they are tired of it. Same as people who dump dogs, don’t spay and neuter their pets, or tease their pit bull until it is violent, then wonder why it bites. The death of a child by parent stupidity, whether it is a snake, a hot car, or a deranged boyfriend should be a crime. People who free their exotic snakes, exotic saltwater fish, any animal into non-native habitat are just creating a problem for everyone. Want to be cool…don’t buy an exotic pet as an accessory, please.
I own a female burmese python which happens to be a well fed robust 7.4 footer. Whenever I handle her I always make sure no children,animals are around and I also don’t show off my snakes outside to the pathetic non-educated alults out there who would bash us every chance they get. I had to relocate 2 burmese that where over the 16 foot mark. I placed one upstate NY,and one in sufolks long island. Yes the size eventually became an issue. Now I own my own home with a 725 square foot basement.It’s going to be an awesome,excellent reptile habitat. Whenever I handled the previous 16 footers,I made sure I had several advantages where if I came under constrictional attact…I would be able to fataly dispatch them if warranted. Thankfully It never came to that.
The problem is there are over 150,000 of these things destroying the environment in Florida. Adji Desir is missing and who knows if he was eaten by one. He was from Naples, right down there in the Everglades, where these things are reeking havoc. They are eating alligators and destroying the ecosystem in Florida. All because of irresponsible pet owners. Obviously requiring permits wasn’t good enough. Senator Nelson wants to band just that species because of the threat to the environment as well as the safety issues. The ban doesn’t cover other constrictors. I’m all for it.
People are tlking about restricting Exotic Pets. I know of a person that raises these as pets and has no problem with them at all. The next thing these people and wanting to band exotic pets are that they are going to band exotic birds, monkees, spiders and so on. It is not the animals fault it is the stupidity of the pople that say oh it would make a nice pet and to show it off to people then when it gets to big for them to handle or the novetly wears of they do not care anymore Let us no punish the exotic animals for there owners stupidty. Let us punish the owner!!! Before you can buy an exotic pet they need to be educated on them and not just walk in and buy it. If they get to much for you too hand then ask for hlp. Educate is the key to everyone having a long and happy life with exotic pets.
The author asks why it matters how the kid died. Well it matters because the kid died after being strangled by a python in the United States.
I think access to all exotic animals should be severely regulated. Of course the issue is the people and not the animals but that is not a valid argument because people do dumb things. Therefore what we do as a society is try and minimize people hurting themselves by taking away some freedoms and regulating their behaviour (see heroin or seatbelt laws).
Zuzana makes a valid point that not too many people die from exotic pets but they have had a severe effect on ecosystems and when it comes to something like this how many deaths is too many. Sure thousands die from car accidents but cars are a huge convenience and have important roles to play in society. Not sure about exotic pets.
I think they should be regulated and only be kept in highly-regulated facilities where the institution has a lot to lose. If private individuals are going to be allowed to keep exotic animals the penalties for even an accidental mauling or bite should be extremely severe.
My 2 Cents.
Darla, why does it matter that “kid died after being strangled by a python in the United States”??? Is it better if the kid died by native cougar or rattlesnake, wild or captive??? Is it better to be killed by domestic American than Japanese import car? What is your point? Feral cats do more damage to the native wildlife any all pythons together, and unlike pythons which need hot humid weather, cats can pretty much live anywhere.
Hi Zuzana
I just think it matters because the python does not add much to society.
Like if its a native cougar or rattlesnake well that is also bad and to the family it does not matter. But maybe it should matter to society because a person brought the python here.
If no one brought the python here that kid would be alive. We would actually have to go around killing cougars and rattlesnakes to keep them from doing what they do naturally. So I think there is a difference.
You’re right we have a real problem with cats and dogs in this country — tooooooo many.
But feral cats don’t kill people.
Darla, horses are not native to the USA, they were brought here. Mustangs are invasive animals, and do more enviro damage than pythons.
Horses also kill more people than pythons. So should we ban horses if we use your reasoning?
Good point. I actually read up on mustangs after you made that point.
I guess I would say that the feral horses were brought here a long time ago and in fact their populations are controlled. Again I don’t know if horses and pythons are a valid comparison. Same as your car argument. I mean horses have such an important place in the founding of this country. A hundred years ago there were millions of them all over the place. Right now it seems that there is a real issue with what to do with them. Pythons on the other hand never provided any help for people. They are just pets. We can get by without them.
I dont know if I want them banned totally but I dont think they should be allowed in residential areas. Personally I just dont get why we would allow people to have carnivorous animals. My neighbour’s grandson was killed by a rottweiler. I think many dog breeds should be banned too!
darla, check out this link for facts:
http://www.rexano.org/HR669_Wildlife_Invasion_Frame.htm
Main $$$ invasives are plants and pests, not pets. As for pets nothing compares to feral cat in destructiveness.
Pythons are popular target because they are big and easy to see, microbes are not easy to see so stupid public doesn’t worry about them.
pythons are just one more victim of media scaremongering. feral horses, feral cats, feral pigs, feral dogs and feral birds pose much more of a threat than any reptile to both the environment and personal safety but do you see any propositions to do away with them?
just because some people don’t care for snakes doesn’t mean they can arbitrarily declare them illegal over other, more numerous and more dangerous threats.
People aren’t “irresponsibly” releasing snakes into the Everglades. What is realistically happening is that every time a hurricane tears through a town or a city, pet stores and homes are being destroyed. The snakes are freed through the destruction and do what snakes do, they find a way to survive.
Additionally, as for snakes not helping people? I read an article once about a man who has a boa constrictor that he carried with him that alerts him to oncoming seizures. I have also found plenty of articles about how snakes are being studied by neurologists because of their excellent memories and their ability to regenerate lost brain matter as a possible means of curing Alzheimers. I myself have found that my own snakes have helped me work through deep depression and anxiety issues. Just because YOU, as an individual, might not get something out of snakes doesn’t mean that snakes are worthless and need to be gotten rid of.
Realistically, little to no domestic dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, horses, cows, pigs, birds, chickens, ferrets, chinchillas, or fish (among many other animals) are native to America. In fact, nothing that is kept as a “pet” in America is native to America. Not to mention, that most native species are illegal to own.
Additionally, domestication is an illusion. You can turn any of the above mentioned animals loose and it will turn feral in a few days, if not a few hours.
The difference is that snakes generally leave people alone. They like to be left alone. They are ambush hunters, they will not chase you down, they would rather run away. Any pet constrictor related death is 100% due to handler error. A well fed, well kept, well handled snake is less likely to harm a person than a cat or a dog. In fact, my own reptiles have no aggressive tendencies at all. Some of them won’t even strike or constrict their food (I feed already killed food for safety reasons). They are personable and have personalities no different than a cat or dog would have a personality.
The biggest difference between MOST reptile owners and most other pet owners, is that any idiot can go out and get a dog without knowing anything about it, but most reptiles can only be kept alive by people who actually have somewhat of an idea of what they are doing. Most people don’t just go out and buy a tropical snake or lizard without first learning how to properly care for it. The main problem that I’ve noticed lately is that a lot of the caresheets, books, and information is horribly outdated. Unfortunately, the few idiots make the news and the rest of us get our pets taken away from us even though we are doing nothing wrong. Meanwhile, everyone else is still allowed to keep their dogs, horses, and other “domestic” animals that have killed more people than both domestic and wild snakes in America combined.
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