See article about man "killed by" 2.4m long python in the UK. Expect general anti-snake hysteria as a result....
Looks to me like an accident that happened WHILE he was handling the snake, not BECAUSE of it, and it has been interpreted as the snake killing him because people are so fearful and suspicious of snakes (and also, lets be honest, because it makes a better story for the press).
When found he was unconscious and alive, but died later. Surely if the snake has suffocated him, he would be dead when found. I'm pretty sure an inquest would find some other non-snake related injury as cause of death.
How to combat this kind of nonsense?
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Snake owner Daniel Brandon killed by his pet python
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-42801983
A snake owner was killed by an 8ft (2.4m) pet python he called his "baby", an inquest has heard.
Daniel Brandon, 31, died from asphyxiation at his home near Basingstoke, Hampshire, on 25 August.
One of the pets - a female African rock python named Tiny - was found near his body, out of its pen.
Coroner Andrew Bradley said there was no doubt Mr Brandon died "as a result of contact with Tiny" and he recorded a verdict of misadventure.
Mr Brandon had kept snakes for 16 years and Tiny was one of 10 snakes and 12 tarantulas he kept in his room at the family home, North Hampshire Coroner's Court heard.
His mother Barbara Brandon said her son had owned Tiny since it was small enough to fit in his hand.
He never felt threatened by Tiny and was aware of how strong it was, she said, but there were occasions when it would "strike out" if she entered the room.
She told the court on the night of her son's death she heard a bang coming from his room, but had assumed it was a dumbbell falling or that he knocked something over.
She later discovered Mr Brandon unconscious in his bedroom and later found the snake coiled under a cabinet.