Giant Python Bites Boy At Halloween Party
From All-Creatures.org Animal Rights Activism Articles Archive

From TheBostonChannel.com,
October 2010
September 2017 - Updated

Halloween party took a horrifying turn in Utah last weekend when a giant python attacked a 10-year-old boy.

The 15-foot, 140-pound Burmese python and its handlers were hired for a Halloween celebration last Saturday at Cyprus Credit Union in West Jordan.

When Jaren Barker went to hold the snake, it turned on him and bit the boy multiple times.
"I didn't it even see it coming," he said. "It just bit me."

Jaren's parents said the boy's shirt was covered in blood, sending the other children into a panic of crying and screaming.

"It bit me two times," Jaren said. "It tried to bite me a third, but it fell."

The boy suffered bites to his chin, face and under his ear.

The snake was being monitored by a veterinarian.

"It was not trying to attack," said Shane Richens, owner of Scales and Tails. "It was some sort of a defensive mechanism, which is why we took it to the vet, to find out why she felt the need to defend itself. We think there's something wrong with her, something she's hurting from."

But Jaren's parents feel more needs to be done and believe Scales and Tails was negligent. The family never filed a police report and was debating whether to take legal action.

"I just want to make sure that the snake, that it never happens again to another kid," said Christian Martin, the boy's mother. "That they do safer shows. I mean, I was told they should have had an assistant helping with a snake that big."

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