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Should the Law Really Care Why A Pet Python Escaped From Babysitting Brother

By Steve Lombardi

A California family was more than a little surprised to see an 11-foot Burmese Python escaping across their lawn in Lake Elsinore. Police wrested the python into a truck and took it away to an animal shelter. The owner, offered as an excuse that while away he'd entrusted it to his brother and it had somehow escaped.

That may seem like a good-enough excuse to an owner but what if the snake had strangled an infant leaving it dead in its crib? Would the excuse then have been good enough to avoid criminal prosecution and civil liability? Owners of these snakes should be strictly liable for any injury or deaths they cause. All pet owners of Burmese Pythons should be required to carry a minimum of $250,000 in homeowner liability insurance coverage.

For additional reading consider the problem in the Florida Everglades and to the Florida family whose 8-foot python strangled the 2-year-old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl4KGnPBGvA

Florida lawmakers could force ban of Burmese pythons, World Zoo Today, August 11, 2009

"Officials at the state wildlife agency are now weighing the prospect of banning the sale and trafficking of exotic pets on the state's list of Reptiles of Concern. The list includes four species of python as well as the green anaconda and Nile monitor.

But the proposed ban remains only in the discussion phase and would not take effect until 2010 at the earliest."

Will charges likely be brought against owner of python that strangled two-year-old be successful?

Serious Jeopardy: If you fell out of the boat in the Florida's Everglades, could you be eaten by a Burmese Python?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on August 19, 2009 (boomark / email).