SNAKE-BIT IN THE PARK!
Unless you live under a rock (and I hope you don’t. There are snakes under some of ‘em), you’ve read the story about little Adam Abdelmonem, and how the little fifteen-month-old was bitten by a ball python while looking at Freedom Park’s ducks on Monday.
His mom said he’d just learned to say “quack, quack” and wanted to see the real deal. So she tried to oblige by putting him down to see the feathery freebirds … then noticed there was the snake … all four feet of him … wrapped around the boy’s leg.
Although the python had bitten the little boy, his mom bravely pulled the snake off his leg, then called two maintenance men to destroy it. They tried to no avail, so the snake was ultimately put in a bucket and transported to Pineville Pets to be checked out and, possibly, given a good home.
Little Adam was taken to CMC, and is doing well; just a little puncture wound to show where he’d been bitten. In fact, his mom was taking it a lot harder than he did.]
Now … the reason I brought up this particular story is that it seems that folks are starting to desert more of their pets at the Park. Folks, we’ve got to corral these rascals (not just snakes; ya got dogs and even a couple of cats that’ve been on the loose there) and either get them into a good “foster family” or whatever. Let’s keep the Park clean and troublefree for the thousands of visitors it has each week, okay?
Incidentally, the youngster is still doing well … and his mom is just about to finally cool down a bit! As this tale progresses (Pineville Pets has the snake as of this writing, and taking good care of it), I’ll keep you informed.
By the way, the Eagle has on of those 24-hour summer colds right now (I’m in my 36th hour now), and is trying to fight it. So this particular post was shorter than usual. Longer ones coming, of course!
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:41 am
I heard the snake was 3 football fields long.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Ummmm, I’m not … SURE, Albert! I mean, for a snake to be 900 feet long, it’d have to be a monster … or related to my ex.
‘Course, the point of the whole thing is to keep the kids SAFE while in the park (or WHEREVE ya take ‘em)! Before putting your young’un down, check the area around you for any stakes, breaks, rakes or snakes … anything that he/she could get hurt on or threatened by.
Then, stay CLOSE … they depend on us as much for protection as they do for love and attention … and they DESERVE it!
Thanks for writing …
November 25th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
I don’t think the kid was as upset as the Mom because it was a juvenile ball python and they are pretty much harmless. I find it very hard to believe that it actually bit his leg, but if it did, the snake must have been desperate for food. It’s a shame that people dump their unwanted pets anywhere…be it a dog, a cat or a reptile. At least the dog or cat have a better chance of surviving.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:17 am
I own a pet ball python and they get no bigger than 6 foot, and considering how many ball pythons are left in the wild destroying the snake is disgracefull. a ball python is harmless unless you’re a rat. if it was a rattle snake, different story, a kid getting bitten is in danger, but a small python, honestly, take care of it, dont kill it.