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Lawmakers have agreed to ban private ownership of pythons.
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by Michelle Murillo
OXFORD, FLA. -- An autopsy conducted Thursday on a toddler who died in Sumter County confirms she was strangled by the family's pet python.
Shaiunna Hare, 2, was found dead Wednesday morning with her stepfather's pet python wrapped around her. Authorities said the Burmese python had escaped from a glass aquarium in the living room of the family's home and slithered to Shaiunna's room and into her crib.
When Charles Darnell, 32, saw what happened, investigators said he began stabbing the snake."He saw bite marks to the forehead of the child. We also discovered several other bite marks on the arms of the child,"
Sumter County Sheriff's Office Lt. Bobby Caruthers said."It was hungry, I guess, and it ... bit her, and they said that it wrapped its body around her," stepsister Kristen Darnell said.
Deputies said negligence charges are pending, and some drugs were found inside the home.
Darnell did not have a permit to own a python.
Most of these snakes found in the wild are either escaped pets or their descendants.
Pythons can grow to 15 feet or longer.
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