Snake bites child at Freedom Park -

Snake bites child at Freedom Park
07/31/2007 07:39 AM
By: Mercer Van Schoor

CHARLOTTE -- A 16-month-old was bit by a snake Monday afternoon in Freedom Park.

The child’s mother realized what happened and rushed the toddler -- and the snake -- to the hospital. Officials determined the snake, believed to be a ball python, was not poisonous and the child is expected to be OK.

Park and recreation officials say there are probably poisonous snakes, namely copperheads, in the area and possibly in the park, but the park is a place for both people and animals.



"We don't want human and wildlife interactions that have negative consequences,” said Michael Kirschman, of Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation. “We don't want people to get bit or stung. That rarely happens. We want to give them opportunities to enjoy their wildlife."



It is believed the snake was a pet that someone released into the wild.

http://news14.com/content/local_news...k/Default.aspx

Different report on same story, now they report they beat the snake with a shovel.
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291695,00.html

Python Sneaks Up on, Bites 15-Month-Old in N.C. Park
Wednesday, August 01, 2007


CHARLOTTE, N.C. —

A 15-month-old boy suffered minor injuries when he was attacked by a 4-foot ball python in a Mecklenburg County park here.

Christine Abdelmonem had taken her son, Adam, to get a better look at some ducks waddling nearby in Freedom Park on Monday. As she lowered the boy to the ground, she felt a tug and saw the snake wrapped around his leg.

She screamed for help and two maintenance workers rushed over. One hit the nonvenomous snake with a shovel before trapping it in a bucket, said Karla Thornhill of Mecklenburg Park and Recreation.

Adam was treated at Carolinas Medical Center for bite marks on his leg.

"When I pulled it off, he was fine," Abdelmonem said. "I wasn't."

John Calchera, a pet store owner in nearby Pineville, took in the constrictor snake. He thinks it may have been abandoned by a pet owner and that it won't survive being beaten.

"It's a totally harmless thing," he said. "Why attack a harmless thing?"

This incident will be a hindrance to our efforts to fight the proposed legislation in NC I'm sure.
To make it worse, it is automatically considered an abandoned pet, one that was intentionally released as opposed to escaped. In my mind escaped is bad press enough, but intentionally released is worse.