African rock python The Central African rock python (''Python sebae'') is a species of large constrictor snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of 11 living species in the genus ''Python''. Africa's largest snake ...

killed two boys in

Campbellton, New Brunswick Campbellton is a city in Restigouche County, New Brunswick, Restigouche County, New Brunswick, Canada. Situated on the south bank of the Restigouche River opposite Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec, Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec, Campbellton was officially ...

, Canada, on August 5, 2013. The boys, Noah Barthe, 4, and Connor Barthe, 6, were sleeping in an apartment above their friend's father's pet store. The python – which had been in a specially made enclosure in the apartment – had escaped, crawled through an

air duct Ducts are conduits or passages used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to deliver and remove air. The needed airflows include, for example, ''supply air'', ''return air'', and ''exhaust air''. Ducts commonly also deliver '' ...

, and fallen through a ceiling tile above where the boys were sleeping. Following the incident, the python was

euthanized Animal euthanasia ( euthanasia from el, εὐθανασία; "good death") is the act of killing an animal or allowing it to die by withholding extreme medical measures. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditi ...

. The python's owner was charged with

criminal negligence In criminal law, criminal negligence is a surrogate state of mind required to constitute a ''conventional'' (as opposed to ''strictly liable'') offense. It is not, strictly speaking, a (Law Latin for "guilty mind") because it refers to an ob ...

for not preventing the deaths but was found not guilty in a

jury trial A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significan ...

in November 2016.

Prior incidents

The

is one of the five largest snake species in the world (along with the

green anaconda The green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus''), also known as the giant Emerald anaconda, common anaconda, common water boa or sucuri, is a boa species found in South America. It is the heaviest and one of the longest known extant snake species. Lik ...

reticulated python The reticulated python (''Malayopython reticulatus'') is a python species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the world's longest snake, and is among the three heaviest. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List because of its w ...

, Burmese python and

amethystine python The amethystine python ('' Simalia amethistina'', formerly known as ''Morelia amethistina''), also known as the scrub python or ''sanca permata'' in Indonesian, is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is found ...

). At least two other examples of humans killed by an African rock python have been reported. A ten-year-old boy was reportedly killed and swallowed in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in 2002, and a three-year-old boy was reportedly strangled by an African rock python in

Centralia, Illinois Centralia is a city in Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Illinois with the largest portion in Marion County. The city is the largest in three of the counties; Clinton, Marion, and Washington, but is not a ...

in 1999. In another Canadian incident, a closely related species, a Burmese python, reportedly strangled a 28-year-old

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it ...

man in 1992.

Event

The

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP) said the python escaped from its enclosure in the apartment and entered the living room where the boys were sleeping via the

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Ventilator, a m ...

system. The python was approximately long and weighed .Python's strangling of 2 boys in Canada investigated
, CBS News, August 6, 2013. The boys, Noah Barthe, 4, and Connor Barthe, 6, were brothers who were visiting their friend, whose father owned a pet shop below the apartment where they were staying.Than, K.,
Strangulation of Sleeping Boys Puts Spotlight on Pythons
, '' National Geographic Daily News'', August 6, 2013. The owner of the python – Jean-Claude Savoie – was interviewed by the Canadian network

Global TV The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after CT ...

. According to the interview, the python was not in the pet store downstairs, but rather in a specially-built cage in the apartment upstairs. The python escaped from its enclosure through a hole in the ceiling, where a ventilation fan had been removed for maintenance.Python enclosure in N.B. boys' deaths had 'flaw'

CBC News
August 14, 2013. This gave the snake direct access to the air ducts in the ceiling, which then collapsed under the snake's weight above the living room. The air duct containing the snake crashed through the ceiling tiles and onto the boys, who were sleeping on a floor mattress located about from the snake's enclosure.

Controversy

Several experts expressed skepticism about the incident and said that such behaviour by this type of snake would be extremely unusual,Escaped python kills two young children in Canada
", ''

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

'', August 6, 2013.Mahoney, J.,
'It's Very, Very Puzzling': Snake Expert Mystified by New Brunswick Python Attack
,

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

, August 6, 2013. although there have been some previous reports of deadly attacks on humans. According to the reports, the snake did not consume the bodies after strangling the brothers. This – together with the fact that more than one child was killed in a single incident and that the other occupants of the apartment were reportedly not awakened by the disturbance – prompted questions about the circumstances regarding the alleged attack.Wood, D.
Snake attack leaves many questions
''

The Waterloo Region Record The ''Waterloo Region Record'' (formerly ''The Record'') is the daily newspaper covering Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, as well as the surrounding area. Since December 1998, the ''Re ...

'', August 6, 2013.Withnall, A.
Python escapes from Canadian pet store and kills two young brothers as they sleep
''The Independent'', August 6, 2013. Lee Parker, facilities manager at

Reptilia Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

, Canada's largest indoor reptile zoo, stated that these snakes do not "go on killing sprees. It doesn't make sense to me." Though these objections were made, the possibility that the incident may be a homicide rather than an animal attack was ruled out by the RCMP. Court records revealed that the pet shop owner was found pacing outside of the store with blood on his hands and wearing shorts by police who first arrived on the scene.Python pet shop owner had blood on hands

CBC News
August 22, 2013. The store owner told arriving police that the snake was still unaccounted for, leaving one to speculate whether the blood belonged to the boys or was his own (due to being bitten by the "enraged" snake or cut by debris from the collapsed ceiling).

Kentucky Reptile Zoo Kentucky Reptile Zoo is a non-profit facility in Slade, Kentucky, that specializes in venomous reptiles and the acquisition of venom through a process called venom extraction. The venom is collected for use in medical research programs as well as ...

director Jim Harrison stated that it was theoretically possible for the large python to have constricted around both boys at the same time, a theory supported by

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

professor, Neil Ford. Harrison also mentioned that since the boys handled a variety of farm animals (

horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

llamas The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is soft ...

goats The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of Caprinae, goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a membe ...

cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

and

dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

) earlier that day, they may have smelled like food to the snake. Although the pet shop was registered as a reptile zoo, police said that the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

does not allow pythons and that the owner probably did not have the proper permits and authorization to keep the python under his care.Python Escapes Cage, Kills Brothers Aged 4 and 6 in Canada
, Latin Post, August 8, 2013.

Aftermath

The python was euthanized by authorities. A coroner's preliminary autopsy report released on August 7 said that the boys died of

asphyxiation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

.Gillies, R.,
Boys Killed by Python Died from Asphyxiation
", MSN News, August 8, 2013.Kwong, M.,
Boys killed by python: Case baffles snake experts
", MSN News, August 8, 2013. The two boys could be seen cleaning a large glass enclosure originally belonging to a

in pictures their mother posted on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. This enclosure later held the African rock python that, unlike the anaconda, managed to escape.

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

Donald Arseneault Donald Arseneault (born in Dalhousie, New Brunswick) is a New Brunswick politician. He is the former Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick for the riding of Dalhousie-Restigouche East. At the time one of the youngest mem ...

expressed frustration in April 2014 that the province would not review New Brunswick's Fish and Wildlife Act until the RCMP investigation was completed.

Minister of Natural Resources The minister of natural resources () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In addition to NRCan, the minister oversees the federal government's natural resources portfolio ...

Paul Robichaud Paul Robichaud (born May 6, 1964 in Tracadie, New Brunswick) is a politician in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. He studied at the Shippagan, New Brunswick campus of the University of Moncton. A member of the Progressive Conservative Par ...

defended the delay, saying that the completed RCMP investigation would help inform a review of the current law. Although the incident was treated as an accident, the RCMP arrested Savoie in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

on February 5, 2015. On March 31, 2015, Savoie was charged with

for not preventing the deaths. However, he was found not guilty in a

in November 2016.

References

{{Reflist, 30em 2013 in New Brunswick Campbellton, New Brunswick Reptiles as pets New Brunswick python attack Deaths due to snake attacks Python (genus) Accidental deaths in New Brunswick Exotic pets August 2013 events in Canada Child deaths

Prior incidents

Event

Controversy

Aftermath

See also

References