Clay Davenport
Cerebral Nomad
Parish says man's 16-foot pet is threat
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
From staff reports
A 16-foot pet snake owned by a Mandeville man ended its second stint as a fugitive on Monday after a neighbor spotted the runaway Burmese python and animal control officers took it into custody.
Duff the snake escaped from its pen sometime in the last few days, apparently forcing its way through the pen's floorboards, police said. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office cited the snake's owner, Mark Stansbury, 25, for breaking a parish ordinance on securing dangerous animals.
Officials were worried Duff could harm small animals or pose other dangers during the holiday weekend, but police had not received any reports of harm by the time a neighbor, who is familiar with the python, spotted the snake in a lot near its home, said James Hartman, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.
In trying to capture Duff, the neighbor suffered a minor bite on his finger, Hartman said. The python is not poisonous, but it does attack its prey by striking with its mouth. Then it coils its body around the animal and constricts until the prey suffocates.
About an hour after Stansbury and his neighbor captured Duff, officials from the St. Tammany Department of Animal Services confiscated the reptile, Hartman said. As for the fate of the snake, animal services officials could not be reached Monday.
"This is not so much a matter of criminal behavior as it is a matter of public safety," Hartman said. "I'm glad there's not a Burmese python living in my neighborhood."
It was Duff's second escape in two years. In 2002, the snake escaped from a camper that was serving as its pen, apparently slithering out a window. It was gone for a week before neighbors spotted it.
Link
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
From staff reports
A 16-foot pet snake owned by a Mandeville man ended its second stint as a fugitive on Monday after a neighbor spotted the runaway Burmese python and animal control officers took it into custody.
Duff the snake escaped from its pen sometime in the last few days, apparently forcing its way through the pen's floorboards, police said. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office cited the snake's owner, Mark Stansbury, 25, for breaking a parish ordinance on securing dangerous animals.
Officials were worried Duff could harm small animals or pose other dangers during the holiday weekend, but police had not received any reports of harm by the time a neighbor, who is familiar with the python, spotted the snake in a lot near its home, said James Hartman, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.
In trying to capture Duff, the neighbor suffered a minor bite on his finger, Hartman said. The python is not poisonous, but it does attack its prey by striking with its mouth. Then it coils its body around the animal and constricts until the prey suffocates.
About an hour after Stansbury and his neighbor captured Duff, officials from the St. Tammany Department of Animal Services confiscated the reptile, Hartman said. As for the fate of the snake, animal services officials could not be reached Monday.
"This is not so much a matter of criminal behavior as it is a matter of public safety," Hartman said. "I'm glad there's not a Burmese python living in my neighborhood."
It was Duff's second escape in two years. In 2002, the snake escaped from a camper that was serving as its pen, apparently slithering out a window. It was gone for a week before neighbors spotted it.
Link