To a select group of folks, having a pet snake is a big part of life. A small, unfortunate portion of these reptile lovers become people who were killed by their pet snakes. Pet snakes that turned on their owners usually did so for a good reason; they were underfed, mishandled, or kept in a less-than-secure container. Others turned on their owners for pettier reasons, like not wanting to be given medication.
If you were on the fence about making yourself a proud owner of vicious pet snakes, maybe you should reconsider. Snakes are wild animals, and if they get loose, anyone in their path - not just their owners - are in potential danger.
A Teen Was Bit By His King Cobra And He Posted It Online
Aril, a teenage boy in Indonesia, died after his king cobra bit him. On December 11, 2017, Aril was trying to pose the snake for a photo. After the bite, he posted pictures of his bloodied and bitten arm with a shoelace as a makeshift tourniquet to WhatsApp. The photo's caption begged someone to take him to the hospital. He was taken to the hospital by a friend, but was declared dead after he fell unconscious and didn't respond to emergency treatment.
The king cobra was not Aril's only snake; he owned at least a dozen exotic snakes. Aril was part of an organization that would use the dangerous snakes as part of street performances. Money from the performances went to charities that helped victims of natural disasters.
A Florida Couple Was Charged With Murder After Their Python Killed Their Two-Year-Old Daughter
In July 2011, A Florida couple - Jaren Hare (21) and Charles Darnell (34) - found out the hard way that a duvet cover, bungee cords, and safety pins do not adequately confine a Burmese python to its tank. The snake, which had repeatedly escaped, was found wrapped around the couple's two-year-old daughter while it was biting her face. The girl was already dead by the time she was found.
Law enforcement officials called it more than an accident; since the snake had escaped so many times, and its cage was not sufficient, the couple was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter of a child. Hare and Darnell were sentenced to twelve years in prison.
To top it off, the unemployed couple apparently didn't feed the snake either - a starving snake is not a happy snake. It was only 13 pounds at the time it killed the young girl; a Burmese python should weigh about 150 pounds.
Warning: the above video shows the body of a man, Akbar Salubiro, being cut out of a massive python. In March 2017, 25-year-old Salubiro of Sulawesi, Indonesia, was found inside a 23-foot-long python. When locals saw the snake, they suspected it had eaten the man, who had been missing for several days. Python attacks on humans are extremely rare, and unfortunately for Salubiro, it sounds like he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
A Boa Constrictor Almost Ate Off This Ohio Woman's Face
An unidentified Ohio woman had a strange hobby of rescuing boa constrictors. Where or how she was rescuing boa constrictors in Ohio is confusing enough; the 911 call she made after a newly rescued boa constrictor wrapped itself around her head is even more mind-boggling. You can listen to the July 2017 call above, in which you can hear the dispatcher saying, "I've never heard of this before."
A firefighter responded to the call and saw the woman on the driveway. Fortunately, he was able to get the snake off of her face... by cutting off its head.
A Python Escaped Its Enclosure And Killed Two Young Boys
In November 2016, an apartment above a reptile store became a murder scene after an African Rock Python escaped through a vent and killed two young boys, ages 5 and 7, in Canada. The store's owner, Jean-Claude Savoie, was charged with criminal negligence after the boys' autopsies showed puncture wounds and snake bites on the boys' faces and evidence of strangulation. The python in question was Savoie's own pet, and the parents of the dead boys had noticed a missing vent cover in its enclosure weeks before. Savoie's own son, who was sleeping in another room, was completely unharmed.
A Woman Tried To Give Her Pet Python Medicine, So He Killed Her
Diablo the snake lived up to his name when he killed his owner, 25-year-old Amanda Black, in October 2008. Black was trying to give Diablo medicine by herself when the snake decided he was not a fan.
Black's husband found his wife's strangled body on the floor next to Diablo's empty container. Animal control was able to recapture Diablo, who had wedged himself between the wall and the container.
"The snake did not like being given the medication, nor did he like the medication," Black's husband kept repeating to animal control. Seems like an understatement.
