PYTHON ATTACKS ON HUMANS: SULAWESI, PETS, RETICULATED AND BURMESE PYTHONS

PYTHON ATTACKS ON HUMANS

reticulated python

A 10- or 20-foot python is large enough to pose a risk to an unwary human, especially a small child. Reticulated pythons and Burmese pythons kill several people every year or every couple of years. Some of them are pet owners. There have been newspaper reports in some countries, describing people being cut from the insides of snakes. Even for large pythons adults present challenged. They can open their jaws wide enough to swallow a human head, but the width of the shoulders is too wide even for a very large snake. Children and small men and women have been swallowed whole by reticulated pythons.

A report made by Antonio van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company, to the Banda Islands of present-day Indonesia in 1638, includes a description of an enslaved woman who was tending to a garden on the island of Gunung Api, and was attacked by a snake of "24 houtvoeten" (a little more than seven meters) in length, and was swallowed whole. The snake could hardly move after ingesting such large prey it was shot by Dutch soldiers and brought to the Governor-General so he could examine it with the victim still inside. [Source: Wikipedia]

Reticulated pythons are particularly dangerous. They are among the few snakes that prey on humans, and is the only species of snake where video and photographic proof exists of them having consumed humans. Attacks on humans in captivity are rare. Wild pythons are known to sometimes prey on humans, particularly on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. In the Philippines, the Agta tribe eat reticulated python for food but have also been prey for the snakes. Between 1934 and 1974, six fatal attacks on humans by reticulated pythons were reported. Amongst the Agta populations, 26 percent of adult males have reportedly survived predation attempts by reticulated pythons. One man died later of an infected bite. In October 2003, a woman was reported to be eaten by a giant reticulated python at Sajek Valley in Rangamati Hill District, Bangladesh, when she was collecting paddy crops with her husband. People came to help and retrieved the woman's body from the python's belly. [Source: Wikipedia]

How Pythons Attack People

Bruce Jayne, professor of biological sciences at the University of Cincinnati, told People magazine that python attacks are “extremely rare" and those people swallowed by pythons usually involve very large pythons and people of a "rather small stature." "It takes pythons a really long time to attain these really enormous sizes," he says. "As a result, there are actually very few of these really, really large pythons." [Source: Wendy Grossman Kantor, People, November 1, 2022]

If someone does encounter a python, however, "leave it alone and walk away," Jayne said. "It's that simple. It's not rocket science. Don't mess around with it." But snake attacks do happen, usually when people keep the creatures as pets. "First of all, is the snake hungry?" he continues. "And then: Is [the potential prey] close enough?"

python with a man inside in Sulawesi in 2017

According to People magazine: Pythons have heat-sensing pits along their mouth to help them detect their next meal. "If you have something that shows up and is warm and it's moving, those two things start looking pretty attractive to a python," Jayne explains. "Some of the snakes I've had in my lab are very aggressive feeders, and sometimes they would actually strike the front of the cage if someone walks in front of it because they would see that movement and then also there would be that heat signature of the person walking by the cage."

And the good news, Jayne says, is most people are able to quickly get away if they encounter a python. "Snakes are actually not very fast," he says. "These large, heavy pythons are really quite slow. So, usually, one could readily just walk away from a python and it's not going to chase someone down unless someone can't even walk at a reasonable speed."

However, he says, pythons can strike fast. Their range, he says, is usually about a third to a half the snake's length — sometimes more. If a large python does strike, "that would be a problem," Jayne says. "They're very strong." Pythons have teeth, which Jayne described as "needle sharp," but they don't chew their food. Instead, the teeth are used to trap their prey, which they eventually swallow whole. "The tips of those teeth point to the back of their mouth, so when prey or people try to pull out of the mouth of the snake, those teeth actually sink in deeper," he explains. "So, it's very hard to disengage. Their teeth are very specialized for basically keeping prey in the mouth." The snake then begins constricting, a process that would be very difficult and take "considerable effort" to stop once it's started. "Snakes that are that big," he says, "it would take an effort of a few people to try to uncoil it."

Python Attacks in Southeast Asia

Franz Werner reported a case in Burma that occurred in 1927.A jeweller named Maung Chit Chine, who went hunting with his friends, was apparently eaten by a 6 meter (20 foot) python after he sought shelter from a rainstorm in or under a tree. Supposedly, he was swallowed feet-first, which contrasts with normal head-first method, perhaps because it was the easiest way for a snake to actually swallow a human.

In September 1995, a 29-year-old rubber tapper from the southern Malaysian state of Johor was reported to have been killed by a large reticulated python. The victim had apparently been caught unaware and was constricted to death. The brother of the victim found the snake coiled around victim’s lifeless body with the victim's head gripped in its jaws. The python reportedly measuring seven meters (23 feet) long and weighed more than 140 kilograms (300 pounds). The python was was killed soon after by police, who shot it four times.

python with a man inside in Sulawesi in 2017

In 1932, Frank Buck wrote about a teenage boy who was eaten by a 7.6-meter (25 foot) pet reticulated python in the Philippines. According to Buck, the python escaped, and when it was found, a human child's shape was recognised inside the snake. It turned out to be the son of the snake's owner.

In May 2001, The Straits Times reported: “A 72-year-old grandmother had a lucky escape from a python in her bathroom. Ms Ngah Hitam had gone to the bathroom at her home in Kampung Seberang Tuan Chik, Malaysia when a python suddenly placed its jaws tightly around one of her feet and tried to drag her down a hole it had entered through the house. Fortunately, the hole was not big enough for the oversized grandmother. The python finally gave up and loosened its grip. Ms Ngah suffered a huge bite on her foot and is now recovering at the Terengganu Hospital. Granddaughter Wan Aishah Ibrahim, 31, said it was the second time in six months that a python had entered their house.

In December 2013, a 59-year-old security guard was killed while trying to capture a python near the Bali Hyatt luxury hotel in Sanur, Bali, Indonesia. The incident happened around 3:00am as the 4.5-meter (15-foot) python was seen crossing a road near the hotel. The victim had offered to help capture the snake, which had been spotted several times before near the hotel and had escaped back into nearby bushes. [Source: Wikipedia]

Thai Woman Survives Being Squeezed for Two Hours by Huge Python in Her Kitchen

In September 2023, a 64-year-old woman was preparing to do her evening dishes at her home outside Bangkok when she felt a sharp pain in her thigh and looked down to see a huge python taking hold of her. “I was about to scoop some water and when I sat down it bit me immediately,” Arom Arunroj told Thailand's Thairath newspaper. “When I looked I saw the snake wrapping around me.” The four-to-five-meter-long (13-to-16-foot-long) python coiled itself around her torso, squeezing her down to the floor of her kitchen. “I grabbed it by the head, but it wouldn't release me,” she said. “It only tightened.” [Source Jintamas Saksornchai and David Rising, Associated Press, September 19, 2024]

Python after it swallowed Sariati, in Balatana Hamlet, Siteba Village, Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi July 2, 2024

Associated Press reported: Propped up against her kitchen door, she cried for help but it wasn't until a neighbor happened to be walking by about an hour and a half later and heard her screams that authorities were called. Responding police officer Anusorn Wongmalee told The Associated Press on Thursday that when he arrived the woman was still leaning against her door, looking exhausted and pale, with the snake coiled around her. Police and animal control officers used a crowbar to hit the snake on the head until it released its grip and slithered away before it could be captured.

In all, Arom spent about two hours in the clutches of the python before being freed. She was treated for several bites but appeared to be otherwise unharmed in videos of her talking to Thai media shortly after the incident. Arom told The Guardian. “I was scared that the python would kill me, so I screamed at the top of my lungs until a passer-by heard me. I have never been so terrified in my life.The snake just would not let go of me. I'm sure it was waiting for me to die so it could eat me. So I just prayed and did my best to stay alive.” [Source Declan Gallagher, Men's Journal, September 19, 2024]

In August 2024, a man living in the same province as Arom survived a python bite to his testicle as he sat on a toilet in his home. The man was able to summon a neighbor, who helped him to contain the snake. In August 2023, 68-year-old Sarayuth Malachan woke up from a nap in his home in Thailand and found a large reticulated python wrapped around his leg, with its teeth in his flesh. "I was so desperate that I even bit it, but it worked, and I was able to break free," Malachan, a security guard, told Viral Press. "It felt like I was going to die while fighting the python." Fox News reported: Malachan cried out for help, but when no one responded, he tried to wrestle himself free, which only caused the snake to squeeze tighter. He worried that because no one answered his calls for help, he might actually lose his leg. With no other options and running out of time, Malachan bit the snake. The bite caused the snake to loosen its grip, and Malachan was able to finally reach down and grab the snake by the head. After dragging the snake outside, he was able to get help to take the snake to the nearby police station and file a report. Malachan believes the snake entered his home to try and eat the chickens he keeps in the back of his room. [Source: Peter Aitken, Fox News, August 25, 2023]

Python Attacks in Sulawesi

In the early 20th-century on Salibabu island, North Sulawesi, a 14-year-old boy was killed and supposedly eaten by a 5.17-meter (17-foot) python. In June 2018, a 54-year-old Indonesian woman on Muna Island, Southeast Sulawesi was killed and eaten by a seven-meter (23 foot) python. The woman was last seen working in her garden at night. A search party was organized the next day after some of her belongings were found abandoned in the garden. The python was found near the garden with a large bulge in its body. The snake was killed and carried into town, where it was cut open, revealing the woman's body completely intact. In 2023 residents in South Sulawesi killed an eight-meter python, which was found strangling and eating one of the farmers in a village.

In June 2020, a 16-year-old Indonesian boy was attacked and killed by a a seven-meter (23 foot) python in Bombana Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The incident took place near a waterfall at Mount Kahar in Rumbia sub-district. The victim was separated from his four friends in the woods. When he screamed, his friends came to help and found him encoiled by a large python. Villagers came to help and managed to kill the snake using a parang machete. However, by that time the victim had already died.

The brothers Lawrence and Lorne Blair were told that the town of Bira in Sulawesi was one of the most heavily python-infested areas of Indonesia. Some of the snake there were nine meters long and residents wore black coral snake bracelets to ward off the predators. Pythons sometimes entered houses when game was scarce. Residents told stories of being chased or ambushed by pythons. [Source: "Ring of Fire" by Lawrence and Lorne Blair, Bantam Books, New York]

A man named Laba told the Blair brothers a story about huge python that dropped on top of him from a tree. "Flattening him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him," Blair wrote, "it had begun the killing process by throwing a few coils around the tree to anchor itself, and a few more around Laba, pinning his arms to his side. It doesn't squeeze very hard, Laba explained, but tightens its grip each time you exhale, making it increasingly harder to draw the next breath. It made no attempt to bite, but held its face close to Laba's, intently watching him while its forked tongue flickered around his nose."

"'They look at you very closely,' he told us. It was at this point that Laba had effected the only feasible escape...In the coils adjacent to his wrists he located the python's cloaca and managed to give it one hell of a goosing. The astonished reptile loosened its grip just long enough for Laba to break free and stagger off down the track — with the serpent in hot pursuit...loudly vocalizing...sibilant barks."

Four People Killed by Pythons in Sulawesi in 2024,

In June 2024, a woman in Kalempang village in South Sulawesi went missing, and her body was discovered inside a reticulated python. Three weeks later, in July 2024, another woman was discovered inside a python's stomach in South Sulawesi. In August 2024, an elderly woman was found dead near Palopo city, South Sulawesi after an attack a four-meter (13 feet) long python. The snake had killed the victim and tried to swallow her, but could not get over the shoulders, regurgitating the body instead. In November 2024, in North Luwu Regency, Sulawesi, a 30-year-old man was killed and swallowed whole by a 7 meters (23 feet) long specimen, the first recorded case of an adult male being eaten since 2017.

On the attack in Sulawesi in July, 2024, CBS News reported: Siriati, 36, had gone missing after she left her house to buy medicine for her sick child, police said, prompting relatives to launch a search. Her husband Adiansa, 30, found her slippers and pants on the ground about 500 meters from their house in Siteba village, South Sulawesi province. "Shortly after that, he spotted a snake, about 10 meters from the path. The snake was still alive," local police chief Idul told AFP. Village secretary Iyang told AFP that Adiansa became suspicious after he noticed the python's "very large" belly. He called the villagers to help cut open its stomach, where they found her body. [Source: CBSNews, July 9, 2024]

The fatal attack comes about a month after a woman was found dead inside the belly of a reticulated python in another district of South Sulawesi. Graphic video published by TMZ appeared to show the snake being cut open in a wooded area while more footage posted by the Daily Mail appeared to show the woman's body being carried in a blanket past distressed villagers.

On the attack in Sulawesi in June 2024, Fox News reported: Farida, 45, went missing at night. Her body was discovered inside a reticulated python the next day by her husband and residents of Kalempang village in South Sulawesi province, a local official said, according to AFP. The search for the missing mother of four began after she failed to return home village chief Suardi Rosi told AFP. Her husband "found her belongings… which made him suspicious. The villagers then searched the area. They soon spotted a python with a large belly," Suardi said. Video shows the horrifying moment a reticulated python was found with the woman inside. "They agreed to cut open the python's stomach. As soon as they did, Farida's head was immediately visible." [Source: Chris Pandolfo, Fox News, June 9, 2024]

The missing woman was found fully clothed inside the massive snake, which was reported to be at least 16 feet long. Her husband, identified as Noni, expressed regret that he let his wife go out on her own. "If I had been with her that day, the snake would not have dared to touch her," he said, according to ViralPress. "I feel sorry for the suffering she went through. I am sorry for our family," he said.

Man Swallowed by Python in West Sulawesi in 2017

In March 2017, the body of Akbar Salubiro, a 25-year-old farmer in Central Mamuju Regency, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, was found inside the stomach of a seven meters (23 feet) reticulated python. He had been declared missing from his palm tree plantation, and the people searching for him found the python the next day with a large bulge in its stomach. They killed the python and found the whole body of the missing farmer inside. This was the first fully confirmed case of a person being eaten by a python. The process of retrieving the body from the python's stomach was documented by pictures and videos taken by witnesses. Wall Street Journal Wikipedia]

The International Business Times reported: Akbar went to work on his palm oil crops in morning but never made it back home. “Akbar had been missing for an entire day, Mashura, a spokesperson for the police in West Sulawesi province told BBC Indonesian. A search party was formed. “In the midst of the search, police saw a dead python near Akbar’s house. They also noticed his boots imprinted inside the snake’s stomach, according to the Straits Times. "They didn't find him (Akbar), but the villagers saw an unmoving python in the ditch. They grew suspicious that maybe the snake had Akbar. When they cut it open, Akbar was inside the snake," said Mashura, who, like many Indonesians uses one name. [Source: Sherley Boursiquot, International Business Times, March 29, 2017]

“"People had heard cries from the palm grove the night before Akbar was found in the snake's stomach," village secretary Junaidi told the Jakarta Post. "When the snake was captured, the boots Akbar was wearing were clearly visible in the stomach of the snake," Junaidi added. "Resident[s] cut open the belly of the snake and Akbar was lifeless."

Python Attacks in Sumatra

The Jambi area of Sumatra is another place where more than on python attacks have occurred. In August 2024, a woman there was killed by a five meters (16 feet) python, which managed to swallow half of her body before being found and killed by villagers. In October 2022, a 52-year-old woman in Terjun Gajah village, Betara Subdistrict, West Tanjung Jabung Regency, Jambi, Indonesia, was killed and swallowed whole by a six-meter (20 foot) reticulated python. She went to tap rubber sap and did not return home after sunset. After being missing for a day and a night, a search party discovered a large python with a bulge in its body in a jungle near the rubber plantation. The villagers killed and opened up the python and found intact body of the missing woman inside. Villagers feared more large pythons might be present because farmers previously had reported two goats missing.

The BBC reported: Jahrah, a rubber-tapper reportedly in her 50s, had made her way to work at a rubber plantation in the morning. She was reported missing after failing to return that night, and search parties sent out to find her. "The victim was found in the snake's stomach," Betara Jambi police chief AKP S Harefa told local media outlets, adding that her body appeared to be largely intact when it was found. He said the victim's husband had on Sunday night found some of her clothes and tools she had used at the rubber plantation, leading him to call on a search party. After the snake — which was at least 5 meters (16 feet) long — was spotted villagers then caught and killed it to verify the victim's identity. "After they cut the belly apart, they found it was Jahrah inside," Mr Harefa told CNN Indoneisa. [Source: Fan Wang, BBC News, October 26, 2022]

In September 2017, according to Metro.co.uk, Robert Nababan, was riding his moped home from his security job at an oil palm tree farm in Sumatra's Batang Gansal district, when came across a massive python lying across the road — and tried to move it. The Washington Post reported: “Accounts diverge from there. Some say he was simply trying to clear the road; others say he was trying to capture the snake. What happened next is not in dispute: The python latched onto his arm and began to coil, the reports say. At some point, it also bit his head. He was able to dislodge the animal, possibly with a machete, but not before he was seriously injured. “He was rushed to a hospital where doctors treated him. He survived.[Source: Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Washington Post, October 5, 2017]

Are Pythons Attacking More Because of Deforestation and Palm Oil

Some of the attack in Sulawesi have occurred in places that have suffered from deforestation and those in Sumatra have occurred in places that have suffered from deforestation and palm oil plantation agriculture.

According to the Washington Post: “By 2012, the amount of deforestation in Indonesia was estimated to be higher than the amount of deforestation in Brazil, according to a research paper in Nature Climate Change. "Much of this palm oil is produced in ways that involve the destruction of tropical forests and peatlands, adding to global warming emissions and reducing habitat for many already threatened species, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. [Source: Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Washington Post, October 5, 2017]

“The effects on the climate are well documented, but there's another, unintended consequence, says Doug Boucher, a scientific adviser for the Union of Concerned Scientists. The plantations increase the chances that Indonesians will come in contact with a snake. "They're not coming after us," he told The Washington Post. "In various ways, either directly or by our actions with changing land use, we're coming after them." It's more complex than deforestation eating away at the snakes' habitat, Boucher said. The palm oil plants are a magnet for rodents and other small animals that feed on the fatty, energy-dense fruit. And the snakes hunt the rats. "You have these sudden encounters," Boucher told The Post. "It's not that the snakes are attacking. They're just not expecting people."

Python Attacks on Children in Australia

In November 2022, A five-year-old Australian boy survived being bitten, constricted and dragged into a swimming pool by a python about three times his size. The BBC reported: Beau Blake was enjoying a swim at home when the three-meter (10-foot) reptile struck, his father told a local radio station. The pair — still entangled — were pulled from the pool by Beau's grandfather and the boy was pried free from the animal by his dad Ben. But Beau is in good spirits and escaped with only minor injuries. "Once we cleaned up the blood and told him that he wasn't going to die because it wasn't a poisonous snake... he was pretty good actually," his father Ben told Melbourne radio station 3AW about the incident that happened a day earlier. "He's an absolute trooper," Ben added, saying the family — who are based in the coastal town of Byron Bay in New South Wales — would monitor the bite wounds for signs of infection.

Despite the lucky escape, the dramatic saga was still quite "an ordeal", he said. "[Beau] was just walking around the edge [of the pool]... and I believe the python was sort of sitting there waiting for a victim to come along... and Beau was it." "I saw a big black shadow come out of the bush and before they hit the bottom, it was completely wrapped around his leg." With "no self-preservation whatsoever", Beau's 76-year-old grandfather Allan jumped in the pool and passed the boy and snake to Ben. "I'm not a little lad... [so] I had him released within 15-20 seconds," Ben said. Ben then held on to the python for about 10 minutes as he desperately tried to calm his children and his father, before releasing the snake back into the vegetation. "He went back to the scene of the crime, the naughty thing." Ben told the radio station pythons were a fact of life in the area, about eight hours north of Sydney, saying "look...it is Australia". [Source: Tiffanie Turnbull, BBC News, November 25, 2022]

In December 1999 The Telegraph reported: A seven-year-old boy on a camping holiday in Queensland survived an attack by a 10 foot python which slithered into his tent as he slept, coiled itself tightly around his neck and seized his face in its jaws. Gerard O'Hare was saved by his father, Neil, who wrestled with the snake and wrenched it away, throwing it out of their tent. The boy suffered about 20 bite wounds to his face, shoulder and hands but was released from hospital after treatment. He and his father were on holiday on Moreton Island, east of Brisbane, when the snake attacked. Queensland's rescue helicopter flew a medical team to the scene and took father and son to hospital in Brisbane. A rescue service spokesman said: "The snake came into the tent and grabbed the boy by the throat. It had wrapped itself around his throat and was trying to eat him. It had its jaws wide open, trying to get a hold on the boy. He was being choked and then the snake starting biting him. The boy was very traumatised, and although the snake was not venomous, he had numerous puncture wounds to his face and upper body." [Source: Barbie Dutter The Telegraph, December 14, 1999]

In March 2003, The Courier Mail in Queensland, Australia reported: Marlie Coleman did not think twice about taking on the scrub python when it wrapped its jaws around her kitten Sooty in their Cairns backyard earlier this year. The sharp-toothed python let go of the kitten, but attached itself to Marlie's lip, hanging on until her mother heard the screams and shook it off. Her mother, Shakira, remembers seeing Marlie standing on the barbecue with a snake attached to her face, bleeding and sobbing "Snake trying to eat Sooty". Scrub pythons grow to three metres in Cairns and are known to defend themselves by biting with their long, sharp teeth, said Michael O'Brien, wildlife curator at Wild World - The Tropical Zoo. They prey upon warm-blooded animals such as chickens, small dogs and cats. [Source: The Courier Mail , Queensland, Australia, March 27, 2003]

RSPCA [Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] Queensland chief executive officer Mark Townend said Marlie's only concern on her way to hospital after the attack was for the kitten. "The RSPCA does not want to see children place themselves in danger," Mr Townend said. "However, this little girl, who was only five at the time, showed exceptional bravery. "Marlie performed a selfless and courageous act on behalf of her kitten friend and she has captured the spirit of animal welfare." Marlie still bears the scars of her ordeal, while Sooty recovered from minor injuries and the non-venomous python slipped away, never to be seen again. Marlie was presented with the award at her school today, becoming the first female, youngest person and first Queenslander to receive it.

Adults Killed by Pet Pythons

In January 2022, a Maryland man was found dead in his home with more than 100 snakes, including a 14-foot python. In 2019, an Indiana woman was also found dead with an eight-foot python she kept in her home wrapped around her neck. In October 2008, a woman from Virginia Beach was killed by a four-meter (13 feet) pet reticulated python. The apparent cause of death was asphyxiation. The snake was later found in the bedroom in an agitated state. [Source: Wikipedia, People magazine]

In December 1999 UPI Focus reported: “A Port Orange, Florida, man died, and police think his pet python killed him. Police suspect Robert Raulerson, 32, had opened the cage of the 12 ½ -foot-long reticulated python to give it some medication when it attacked him. Commander Mike Sheridan said, "It just appears to the detectives, at some point the python grabbed the deceased's forehead with his fangs and then proceeded to wrap itself around the body and suffocated him." An autopsy by the medical examiner confirmed that there were puncture wounds on Robertson's forehead, but investigators said it was unclear whether they were caused by snake fangs. The snake was one of five pythons living in Robertson's home. It was humanely destroyed shortly after the death was discovered. The other snakes have been taken to the Halifax Humane Society. Humane Society staffer Michelle Pari said, "We do not recommend owning a wild animal." [Source: UPI Focus, December 23, 1999]

In May 1999, Reuters reported: “A Thai snake charmer's luck ran out when a python he had captured from a neighbor's home coiled itself around his neck and strangled him. Hie Kerdchoochuay, 55, who was known for his snake catching and charming skills, rushed into a neighbor's house in the northern province of Uttaradit to catch the python which had intruded the home, police told Reuters. He put the snake in a sack and was walking home with it when villagers ran into him and asked to see the python. Hie then took the snake out and put it around his neck. Hie started screaming for help when the reptile wrapped itself tightly around his neck and did not let go until he fell down dead, police said. Villagers and policemen in the area then forcibly unwrapped the snake from his neck and took it into captivity. [Source: Reuters, May 4, 1999]

Pet Python Kills Owner in Colorado

In February 2002, the Denver Post reported: “A large pet python overpowered its owner and squeezed him to death in the basement of an Aurora home. Richard Barber, 43, of Aurora, died of asphyxiation when Monty, his 11-foot-long, 43-pound female snake, coiled herself around his head, neck and chest and squeezed him to death, according to an Arapahoe County Coroner's autopsy report. [Source: Jim Kirksey, Sheba R. Wheeler, Denver Post, February 11, 2002]

Authorities were called to 1357 S. Biscay St. at 2:27 p.m. on a report of a snake choking a man, authorities at the scene said. Sgt. Jack Daluz, one of the first officers on the scene, along with officer Doug Stark, said they found the man on the floor of the basement "with a Burmese python around his neck." He said the victim wasn't struggling at that point. "The part of the snake that wasn't wrapped around him was coiled and it was looking at us," he said. "It wasn't pretty."

Daluz and Stark used their police batons for leverage to pull the reptile away from the man's neck, but it took reinforcements from the Aurora Fire Department to peel the pet off the man. The snake was about 8 inches in diameter, Daluz said. Fire Lt. Dave Varnum said it took seven men to unwrap the python from around its owner, and firefighter Sigfried Kline wrestled it back into its cage. Varnum said it isn't clear why the reptile attacked its owner, who had raised it from a small snake to its present size. It didn't appear to be hungry and it wasn't shedding its skin - two times when snakes tend to be more aggressive, Varnum said.

Two women who also live in the house found the man with the snake around his neck but they were unable to unravel it, so they called 911, Varnum said. Jay Larson, who lives across the street, identified the victim as Rick Barber and said he has known him for about a dozen years. Larson said an ambulance technician on the scene told him the victim had no pulse when they arrived, but they had managed to restore it before taking him to the Medical Center of Aurora. He was pronounced dead of asphyxiation in the hospital's emergency room, hospital spokeswoman Bev Petry said. Larson said he has petted the python many times in the past, and he described it as docile. Aurora Animal Control took custody of the large python.

Barber been ordered by a judge three years before the attack to get rid of a similar snake that was too large. Officials aren't sure whether it's the same snake that killed the man. Records show that Barber was found guilty in October 1998 of violating a city code that makes it illegal to keep a snake more than 6 feet long. He was ordered to take the snake out of the Aurora city limits, said Cheryl Conway, spokeswoman for the Aurora Animal Care Division. An anonymous caller had told division officials a large snake had been seen in Barber's backyard. "He was given a month to relocate the reptile," Conway said. "Animal care went back out for a follow-up inspection and we found that he had removed the snake."

Barber apparently raised the python from a baby. Authorities said Barber had taken Monty out of her cage Sunday afternoon and wrapped her around his neck to show his roommates. Suddenly, Barber's face contorted and he fell to the ground, a movement that may have frightened the snake and caused her to constrict, authorities said. It took four firefighters and at least one police officer to pry the snake off Barber with their nightsticks. As three firefighters rushed Barber upstairs to revive him, a firefighter left holding the snake was suddenly knocked off his feet when the snake coiled around his arm and began dragging him across the floor, said Rory Chetelat, spokesman for the Aurora Fire Department. The firefighter eventually spotted a cage, and he steered the snake toward it until his colleagues came back and helped put the snake in its cage. About a month after the attack Monty was euthanized. One other person in Colorado has been squeezed to death by a pet python. Derek Romero, 15, of Commerce City, was killed in 1993 when his family's 1 ½ -foot pet Burmese python crushed his torso.

Pet Python Attacks on Children

In 1982 a 21-month-old child was found dead in his crib after a pet reticulated python escaped from the place it was kept and bit the child. In January 2009, a three-year-old boy in Las Vegas was enveloped in the coils of 5.5-meter (18 foot) pet reticulated python, turning the boy blue. The boy's mother, who had been petsitting the python on behalf of a friend, rescued him by gashing the python with a knife. The snake was later euthanized because of its wounds. [Source: Wikipedia]

In August 1999, Dave McKinney wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, “A 7 ½ -foot pet African python was blamed for suffocating a 3-year-old boy in Centralia, Illinois. Jesse Lee Altom's body was found in the family's home with compression marks around his chest and bite marks on his neck and ears. Police investigators said his parents' pet, which they obtained three months ago, escaped from an aquarium and wrapped itself around the boy's chest while he lay sleeping with an aunt and uncle near the base of the aquarium. [Source: Dave McKinney, Chicago Sun-Times, August 31, 1999]

The relatives and his parents all were sleeping in the family's living room after a party Saturday night, police said. "We can't say exactly why the snake did that. . . . It was shedding, and they can get temperamental when they're in that state," said Capt. Richard Densmore, an investigator with the Centralia Police Department. An autopsy completed Monday revealed the 35-pound boy died of asphyxiation, and there were no signs to indicate the boy struggled with the snake, said Mark Moss, the Marion County deputy coroner.

"It could've been getting out of its crate and the boy moved, and the snake was spooked," Moss said. Authorities also speculated the one-year-old snake may have been seeking warmth. The species, which can reach 14 feet at maturity, prefers temperatures of at least 85 degrees. Its cage did not have a heat lamp, police said. A herpetologist, an expert on reptiles and amphibians, has taken the snake until police and prosecutors decide whether to press charges against the boy's parents, Densmore said.

In August 2001, Associated Press reported: An 8-year-old girl died after her family's pet Burmese python wrapped itself around her neck and suffocated her. The 10-foot-long snake was one of five owned by the family, police said. Amber Mountain's mother left home for a short time and returned to find that the snake had escaped from its cage. The girl was unconscious and had no pulse when paramedics arrived. It is legal to keep exotic snakes as pets in Irwin, southeast of Pittsburgh. [Source: Associated Press, August 27, 2001]

In July 2012, ABC News reported: A baby from Matoon, Illinois, narrowly escaped death after being attacked by a neighbor's two-foot-long python that slithered into his crib. William Winans, who celebrated his first birthday this week, was treated for bites and bruise marks and is doing well, his father, Devin Winans, told ABC News. “If the snake had wrapped around his neck, honestly, we probably would not be having his birthday today,” Winans said. [Source: Snejana Farberov, ABC News, July 8 2012]

“The two-foot ball python slithered out of its tank and into the next-door apartment At around 11pm Winans said he heard his son crying and went to check on him. When the concerned dad felt around the toddler’s crib, he said he felt something “slimy.” “I immediately turned the light on and saw the snake, a ball python wrapped around his foot, constricting it and trying to eat his foot,” Mr Winans recalled. The father used a blanket to yank the snake off his son’s tiny foot and turned the animal over to the Coles County Animal Shelter. Shelter manager Julie Deters said it is not clear why the snake attacked the baby, but said that in the hot summer months, animals turn more irritable. William was taken to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center to be treated for a bite, a bruise and scratches. Police determined the reptile somehow escaped its home next door and issued a citation against its owner, 23-year-old Shelby Guyette. The Winans family moved out of their apartment following the run-in with their neighbor's snake.”

Two-Year Girl Killed by Pet Python, Owners Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

In July 2009, a two-year-old Florida girl was killed by a pet albino Burmese python that escaped from its terrarium and attacked her in her crib. FoxNews.com reported: “Shaiunna Hare was strangled by the 8-foot, 5-inch snake as she slept after it got out of its tank in another room of the house, according to Sumter County Sheriff's Lt. Steve Binegar. Paramedics said the little girl was dead when they arrived at 10 a.m. at the central Florida home in Oxford, about 50 miles northwest of Orlando. [Source: FoxNews.com, Associated Press, July 2, 2009]

Deputies told FOX Tampa affiliate WTVT that Jaren Ashley Hare, 21, and her daughter shared the home with Hare's boyfriend, 32-year-old Charles Jason Darnell, deputies said. "The baby's dead!" a sobbing caller from the house screamed to a 911 dispatcher in a recording. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby." Darnell told investigators that he put the snake in a bag inside its terrarium Tuesday night. But when he woke up Wednesday morning, he said, the snake was gone. He found it wrapped around the girl in her crib. Darnell stabbed the snake repeatedly to free the little girl, but the toddler already had been strangled. The snake also bit her on the head, the station reported. He called 911 after he pried the python away from the child. "She got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death," a caller said in the 911 tape. The pet had already escaped once earlier that night, WTVT said.

Authorities removed the snake from the small houseafter obtaining a search warrant. Once outside the python was placed in a bag, which was put inside a dog crate. It was still alive. Deputies say Darnell did not have the $100 permit required to own a python in Florida, which is a second-degree misdemeanor. George Van Horn, owner of Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, said the strangulation could have occurred because the snake felt threatened or because it thought the child was food. "They are always operating on instinct," he said. "Even the largest person can become overpowered by a python." Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation spokeswoman Joy Hill said the snake will be placed with someone who has a permit, pending an investigation into the girl's death.

Two years later the python-owning couple was sentenced to 12 years in prison over death of the child. The Orlando Sentinel reported: Charles "Jason" Darnell and his girlfriend Jaren Hare were each sentenced 12 years in prison. Each faced a possible 45 years in prison for manslaughter and child neglect. They turned down a pretrial plea offer that would have capped their prison time at 10 years. A medical examiner testified that the snake was trying to eat the child. The snake, which, at 13 1/2 pounds, was grossly underweight, repeatedly escaped the 200-gallon tank, which had a quilt as a lid. A snake expert testified during the couple's trial that an albino Burmese python of Gypsy's age should have weighed about 150 pounds. [[Source: Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel, September 19, 2011]

Both were found guilty by a six-member jury of manslaughter, felony murder in the third degree and child neglect. Defense lawyers, J. Rhiannon Arnold and Ismael Solis Jr., had characterized the girl's death as a horrible accident, arguing the couple had regarded the constrictor snake as a docile family pet. They sometimes took the snake on car rides and let their children handle it. Manslaughter ordinarily is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, but because the victim was a child the potential maximum penalty was double. The couple also was convicted of felony murder in the third degree because they were committing the felony offense of child neglect when the child died. They cannot be sentenced on both manslaughter and felony murder in the third degree because the charges involved the same death.

A juror said the panel thought the couple had honestly convinced themselves that the snake was not a danger. "But we also felt that, as the adult parents and caregivers, their responsibility was to preclude any chance that there could be an incident of any kind (with the snake) because the 2-year-old could not protect herself," she said. Before the tragedy, Hare's mother, Sheryl, who was concerned for her granddaughter's safety, had offered to keep the snake at her home in Marion County which had a large, locked container in a bathroom. She also offered to ask her husband to construct a holding tank with a secure lid and buy rats for Gypsy. With her mother's permission, Jaren Hare bought the snake at a flea market when she was 14.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, images of pythons with people inside them from the BBC and Jakarta Globe

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, CNN, BBC, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated February 2025