Dad Defends Decision To Let His 13-Foot Pet Python Wrap Itself Around His Toddler
A 13ft burmese python slithers over a baby in footage which is the stuff of nightmares for most parents – but for snake handler Jamie Guarino it’s simply a show of affection from a beloved family pet. Jamie, 34, filmed daughter Alyssa, then 14-months old with his ten-year-old pet snake Nay-Nay. Jamie wants to educate people about snakes, which he says can be loving pets despite their bad reputation.
So here is a video which will divide us into different groups. One side will be the ones saying that this is just dangerous – other side will say that nothing dangerous here as they were just playing.
Myself i am not sure which side to take. First i am not a big fan of snakes of any kind. Sure they look nice from far away,but stay over there please.
The fact is that a dangerous animal playing with a small child is no fun at all. Let’s take a look at the animal first:
A 13-foot Burmese python. A python that is so powerful if it wants can crush this little child in seconds.
The father is a professional snake handler and knows what signs to look for if it would turn to be ugly.
He is also confused about people’s reaction:
“When people see this clip they mostly react with fear or negativity. And I don’t understand why.” He then continues, “This is an embedded fear, and I think people are brainwashed.”
“To those of you who might see this video as irresponsible or dangerous, please take a minute. Don’t judge based on fear or something you don’t understand. Snakes can be, and are, loving animals.”
He is saying that more people die in dog attacks than snake attacks every year. What he is not thinking about,that dogs are kept as pets all around the world. While snakes most of see in zoos only.
Less contact with human equals less attacks – this is just common sense.
Nat Geo says the following about these snakes:
“…generally docile disposition…”
“Attacks on handlers, sometimes deadly, are not uncommon.”
“Burmese pythons are carnivores, surviving primarily on small mammals and birds.”
“They kill by constriction, grasping a victim with their sharp teeth, coiling their bodies around the animal, and squeezing until it suffocates.”
So the small child can be a small mammal at any time – when the father will have no time to react to the threat.
There are several examples of incidents when the snakes/pythons killed humans,their owner mistaken them for food.
Still he says:
“My daughter was absolutely in no danger.”
In one case, reported on by the New York Times in 1996, it appears the snake mistook it’s owner for food.
In another, more recent case in 2013, two young boys in Canada were killed.
The Oakland Free Press states that the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office has asked the Department of Human Resources to launch an investigation into whether his children were being neglected or abused.
