Two N.B. children were asphyxiated by python, preliminary autopsy says
JANE TABER, DANIEL BITONTI AND JILL MAHONEY
FREDERICTON AND TORONTO — The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Aug. 07 2013
Two New Brunswick brothers were asphyxiated by a python that escaped from its cage not far from where they were sleeping at a friend’s apartment, according to preliminary autopsy results.
Noah and Connor Barthe, ages 4 and 6, were found dead early Monday in the Campbellton apartment. They were on a sleepover. Their friend’s father, Jean-Claude Savoie, owns the African rock python that killed the boys. He also operates an exotic pet store located just below the apartment.
Just months earlier, the boy’s mother, Mandy Trecartin, posted a series of pictures on her Facebook page of her sons and a friend happily cleaning out a large snake tank. “It started with cleaning the tank … But a few buckets of water later … it turned into a water park,” she wrote.
On Wednesday night, hundreds of people gathered at the Salmon Plaza monument downtown to honour the boys whose deaths have horrified the small northern New Brunswick city. A funeral is set for Saturday.
The preliminary autopsy results provide police with a key piece of evidence as they continue to investigate the events of that night – and the history of the snake.
“We still have … to get the complete final report, but right now the way that those two boys died is consistent with being attacked by a snake of that size,” said Sergeant Alain Tremblay. He told The Globe and Mail that the RCMP are waiting for the results of further tests. He said the pathologist has also taken tissue and blood samples to determine whether “the kids were breathing normally before they passed away.”
Sgt. Tremblay said that for everyone, including the pathologist, this is “learning experience” because “it’s probably the first case in Canada like this.”
“We have to take baby steps,” he said.
He would not discuss the extent of the boys’ injuries, saying investigators are awaiting the final report from the pathologist.
Police said the four-metre-long python, which weighed about 45 kilograms, escaped from its glass-walled enclosure through a vent and slithered around in the duct work before falling through the ceiling of the living room, where the boys were sleeping.
Sgt. Tremblay said investigators plan to conduct an in-depth interview with Mr. Savoie, the snake’s owner. “The investigation’s going to show if there is any criminal offence that has been committed.”
The RCMP also said a postmortem examination of the snake found it “was, over all, in good health,” although investigators are still awaiting a final report. The remains of the animal, which was euthanized, are with a provincial veterinarian and will be destroyed, police said.
Part of the police investigation focuses on the snake and how it came to New Brunswick. Sgt. Tremblay says there is a large amount of documentation to pore over.
Marc Doiron worked with Mr. Savoie for about six months in the early 2000s. He says the snake, which was then about 1.5 metres long, arrived around then. Mr. Savoie’s store, Reptile Ocean, was operating as a private zoo with the proper permits to house a snake of that kind, Mr. Doiron said.
He says the python was originally owned as a pet but then seized by authorities and given to Mr. Savoie. Mr. Doiron said he did not know which agency seized the snake.
Keeping the snake is illegal in New Brunswick unless a permit is issued. Accredited zoos have permits to house these snakes, but such documents are not issued to people who want to own them as pets.
Asked about its involvement in the snake coming into Mr. Savoie’s possession, an Environment Canada spokesman said the snake was dropped off in 2002 at a local SPCA and its wildlife officers helped with transportation.
The boys’ deaths mark the first time that a python is known to have killed two people in the same incident, said Johan Marais, who has written several books on snakes and runs the African Snake Bite Institute. “That’s most unusual,” he said.
The province’s Department of Natural Resources is determining what will be done with the other exotic animals in Mr. Savoie’s store.
It has engaged Bry Loyst, curator of the Indian River Reptile Zoo, to help transport the animals to accredited facilities.
“It’s really up in the air at the moment,” Mr. Loyst said as he prepared to travel to Campbellton. “Hopefully we’ll be flying them to different accredited zoos across Canada.”
..............................................
AFRICAN ROCK PYTHON
(HANDOUT/REUTERS)
The reptile trade in Canada is a growing industry that has seen an increase in the number of private reptile breeders, according to Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoocheck Canada Inc. http://www.zoocheck.com/ (HANDOUT/REUTERS)
Canada’s reptile trade on the rise as expert warns of safety risk
JANE TABER
HALIFAX — The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Aug. 07 2013
The reptile trade in Canada is a growing industry in which the number of private reptile breeders, including those who breed large constricting snakes, has jumped, according to an animal welfare expert.
And for Rob Laidlaw, the executive director of Zoocheck Canada Inc., this week’s tragedy in New Brunswick is the manifestation of just one of his concerns about keeping giant snakes as pets – they are a public safety hazard.
“They are large, robust, they can be 80 to 300 pounds and sometimes up to five metres long and they have 100 to 120 recurved teeth in their mouth and when they grab hold of you they don’t let go,” he says. “They can be dangerous to an adult, let alone a child.”
His organization has advocated that these animals be banned as pets – not just for obvious safety reasons, but because they can carry disease, they are stripped from their own habitat, resulting in ecological harm and distress and for welfare concerns.
“If you look at some of these animals, like giant constricting snakes, they are kept in tanks or very small spaces and they’re pulled out for somebody’s amusement. They are basically warehoused,” he said in an interview. “We don’t think this little tiny subset of people who keep these animals should hold the day.”
Mr. Rob Laidlaw is the author of a comprehensive 2005 report about the reptile trade in Canada.
His research shows there is little record-keeping about the number of reptiles that come into the country. The number of animals requiring a permit, such as turtles and tortoises and those species on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, can be tracked – but other reptiles are unregulated and “can be brought into Canada without restriction for almost any purpose,” writes Mr. Laidlaw in his report.
SOURCE: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadas-reptile-trade-on-the-rise-as-expert-warns-of-safety-risk/article13653518/
JANE TABER, DANIEL BITONTI AND JILL MAHONEY
FREDERICTON AND TORONTO — The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Aug. 07 2013
Two New Brunswick brothers were asphyxiated by a python that escaped from its cage not far from where they were sleeping at a friend’s apartment, according to preliminary autopsy results.
Noah and Connor Barthe, ages 4 and 6, were found dead early Monday in the Campbellton apartment. They were on a sleepover. Their friend’s father, Jean-Claude Savoie, owns the African rock python that killed the boys. He also operates an exotic pet store located just below the apartment.
Just months earlier, the boy’s mother, Mandy Trecartin, posted a series of pictures on her Facebook page of her sons and a friend happily cleaning out a large snake tank. “It started with cleaning the tank … But a few buckets of water later … it turned into a water park,” she wrote.
On Wednesday night, hundreds of people gathered at the Salmon Plaza monument downtown to honour the boys whose deaths have horrified the small northern New Brunswick city. A funeral is set for Saturday.
The preliminary autopsy results provide police with a key piece of evidence as they continue to investigate the events of that night – and the history of the snake.
“We still have … to get the complete final report, but right now the way that those two boys died is consistent with being attacked by a snake of that size,” said Sergeant Alain Tremblay. He told The Globe and Mail that the RCMP are waiting for the results of further tests. He said the pathologist has also taken tissue and blood samples to determine whether “the kids were breathing normally before they passed away.”
Sgt. Tremblay said that for everyone, including the pathologist, this is “learning experience” because “it’s probably the first case in Canada like this.”
“We have to take baby steps,” he said.
He would not discuss the extent of the boys’ injuries, saying investigators are awaiting the final report from the pathologist.
Police said the four-metre-long python, which weighed about 45 kilograms, escaped from its glass-walled enclosure through a vent and slithered around in the duct work before falling through the ceiling of the living room, where the boys were sleeping.
Sgt. Tremblay said investigators plan to conduct an in-depth interview with Mr. Savoie, the snake’s owner. “The investigation’s going to show if there is any criminal offence that has been committed.”
The RCMP also said a postmortem examination of the snake found it “was, over all, in good health,” although investigators are still awaiting a final report. The remains of the animal, which was euthanized, are with a provincial veterinarian and will be destroyed, police said.
Part of the police investigation focuses on the snake and how it came to New Brunswick. Sgt. Tremblay says there is a large amount of documentation to pore over.
Marc Doiron worked with Mr. Savoie for about six months in the early 2000s. He says the snake, which was then about 1.5 metres long, arrived around then. Mr. Savoie’s store, Reptile Ocean, was operating as a private zoo with the proper permits to house a snake of that kind, Mr. Doiron said.
He says the python was originally owned as a pet but then seized by authorities and given to Mr. Savoie. Mr. Doiron said he did not know which agency seized the snake.
Keeping the snake is illegal in New Brunswick unless a permit is issued. Accredited zoos have permits to house these snakes, but such documents are not issued to people who want to own them as pets.
Asked about its involvement in the snake coming into Mr. Savoie’s possession, an Environment Canada spokesman said the snake was dropped off in 2002 at a local SPCA and its wildlife officers helped with transportation.
The boys’ deaths mark the first time that a python is known to have killed two people in the same incident, said Johan Marais, who has written several books on snakes and runs the African Snake Bite Institute. “That’s most unusual,” he said.
The province’s Department of Natural Resources is determining what will be done with the other exotic animals in Mr. Savoie’s store.
It has engaged Bry Loyst, curator of the Indian River Reptile Zoo, to help transport the animals to accredited facilities.
“It’s really up in the air at the moment,” Mr. Loyst said as he prepared to travel to Campbellton. “Hopefully we’ll be flying them to different accredited zoos across Canada.”
..............................................
AFRICAN ROCK PYTHON
(HANDOUT/REUTERS)
The reptile trade in Canada is a growing industry that has seen an increase in the number of private reptile breeders, according to Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoocheck Canada Inc. http://www.zoocheck.com/ (HANDOUT/REUTERS)
Canada’s reptile trade on the rise as expert warns of safety risk
JANE TABER
HALIFAX — The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Aug. 07 2013
The reptile trade in Canada is a growing industry in which the number of private reptile breeders, including those who breed large constricting snakes, has jumped, according to an animal welfare expert.
And for Rob Laidlaw, the executive director of Zoocheck Canada Inc., this week’s tragedy in New Brunswick is the manifestation of just one of his concerns about keeping giant snakes as pets – they are a public safety hazard.
“They are large, robust, they can be 80 to 300 pounds and sometimes up to five metres long and they have 100 to 120 recurved teeth in their mouth and when they grab hold of you they don’t let go,” he says. “They can be dangerous to an adult, let alone a child.”
His organization has advocated that these animals be banned as pets – not just for obvious safety reasons, but because they can carry disease, they are stripped from their own habitat, resulting in ecological harm and distress and for welfare concerns.
“If you look at some of these animals, like giant constricting snakes, they are kept in tanks or very small spaces and they’re pulled out for somebody’s amusement. They are basically warehoused,” he said in an interview. “We don’t think this little tiny subset of people who keep these animals should hold the day.”
Mr. Rob Laidlaw is the author of a comprehensive 2005 report about the reptile trade in Canada.
His research shows there is little record-keeping about the number of reptiles that come into the country. The number of animals requiring a permit, such as turtles and tortoises and those species on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, can be tracked – but other reptiles are unregulated and “can be brought into Canada without restriction for almost any purpose,” writes Mr. Laidlaw in his report.
SOURCE: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadas-reptile-trade-on-the-rise-as-expert-warns-of-safety-risk/article13653518/
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