In the wake of an incident where two young New Brunswick brothers are believed to have been killed by a large snake, the owner of a Sudbury exotic pet store said he thinks there should be a registry of dangerous snakes.
“I think it is reasonable that the public should be protected and know that your neighbour has a 25-foot snake,” said John Cameron, the owner of BJ's Little Rodents and Reptiles on Durham Street.
Six-year-old Connor Barthe, and his four-year-old brother, Noah, are believed to have been killed Aug. 4 by an African rock python in Campbellton, N.B. while they were sleeping. Police believe the snake constricted the boys, suffocating them.
The four-metre, 45-kilogram snake was in a custom-built glass enclosure on the same floor as the two boys, and is believed to have gotten out by entering a hole in the ceiling and into the ventilation system.
As it made its way over the living room, the ceiling duct gave way, and the snake is believed to have fallen on the floor.
The snake, which has since been euthanized, was owned by Jean-Claude Savoie, who operates an exotic pet store called Reptile Ocean on the ground floor of the building where the children were killed.
The Barthe brothers were having a sleepover with Savoie's son in the apartment above the store when the incident occurred.
Not knowing enough about the specifics of the situation, Cameron said he doesn't want to comment about whether Savoie did anything wrong. But as a father of three and grandfather of eight, he said he finds the story “heartbreaking.”
While African rock pythons are banned in New Brunswick except at zoos, here in Ontario, there are no such rules covering exotic pets, leaving municipalities to come up with bylaws to govern them.
North Bay, for example, doesn't have any restrictions on exotic pets, Cameron said. In Sudbury, people are allowed to own up to two non-venemous snakes.
He said his store sells several different types of snakes, but doesn't sell breeds that get larger than about eight or nine feet in length.
Cameron does, however, sometimes rescue large snakes other people no longer want. Showing off a nine-foot-long Burmese python which someone dropped off at his store a few months ago, he said the animal will eventually grow to be 20 feet long.
Even right now, the snake is incredibly strong, he said, and he often needs help to unwind her from his body.
While this snake is tame “like a puppy dog,” the type of snake believed to have killed the children – an African rock python – is extremely aggressive, Cameron said.
“They're apex predators from their region of the world,” he said. “They're not friendly, hence the question why would you own one.”
In the wild, African rock pythons eat animals as large as goats and pigs, Cameron said. If the snake were hungry, it could have mistaken the Barthe brothers for prey, as their heat signature would have been the right size, he said.
It wouldn't have been difficult for the large snake to kill them, Cameron said.
“These guys, when they constrict, they tighten so tight that you can't get your breath,” he said. “So you're gone very fast. Without any exaggeration, I don't think those children lasted very long.”
Because snakes instinctively try to escape from their enclosures, it's extremely important not to leave them with ways to do so, as appeared to be the case with the snake that recently killed the young brothers.
Cameron said he has three locks on all of his snakes' cages.
Besides that, they're kept in a separate room from his other animals, and he's installed screens over top of the ceiling ducts, so that even if they do get out, they won't be able to go anywhere.
“That was the first thing we did as soon as we got here,” he said.
Meanwhile, the community of Campbellton is mourning the Barthe brothers' deaths.
Although funeral arrangements had not been announced at press time, a vigil had been planned for the evening Aug. 7.
“On behalf of the family, we acknowledge the interest in this awful tragedy,” said the boys' great-uncle, David Rose, who read a statement on behalf of the family on Aug. 6. “We appreciate the outpouring of sympathy that has been shown.”
Rose said Connor would have entered Grade 2 in the fall, and Noah was excited to start kindergarten at the same school.
He described the brothers' last day, which included shopping for treats with Savoie and visiting his family's farm, where they played with the farm animals, and even got to ride on the tractor.
After that they went back to Savoie's home for a sleepover. “So they had a super day,” Rose said.
