© Claude LeBlanc/QMI AgencyRCMP forensic investigators at the Reptile Ocean store in Campbellton, N.B., Monday, August 5, 2013.
The python escaped from the Reptile Ocean exotic pet store and killed the children, reportedly five and seven years old, who were found at 6:30 a.m.
According to deputy mayor Ian Comeau, the snake escaped and slithered through the ventilation system to the residence above where the children had spent the night.
Well before the tragedy, an online petition was asking for Reptile Ocean to be shut down.
On thepetitionsite.com, the page's administrator wrote: "The way his animals are treated is not right, and I will fight against them till something is done. Sick animals should not be around healthy ones. They should not even be up for adoption. I am disgusted by that place and will no longer step a feet (sic) in there ever again."
On its Facebook page, Reptile Ocean describes itself as an "Exotic pet store open to the public for purchase and viewing! Wonderful animals. fun for everyone."
Responding to a post by Reptile Ocean on Saturday that read "sharing is caring," one visitor to the page commented: "You know what ISNT caring...have your snakes escape and then kill some children."
QMI Agency could not reach Reptile Ocean, local police or the mayor of Campbellton.
Source: QMI Agency
"Pet snakes" are not pets; rather they are captives. The reptilian brain differs from the mammalian brain.
Dogs and cats, from their millenia of association with humans, are the only mammals suitable as pets. Although other mammals -- skunks come to mind -- can be tamed, they will never be pets, in the sense that we think of pets.
Constrictors -- pythons and boas -- constrict any living thing with which they come in contact. It's what they do; it's in their nature. Large ones will kill small children, dogs and cats.
BTW, the way to remove a constrictor is to grab below the neck, with one hand, to prevent being bitten, and to grab the tail and unwind with the other hand. The tail is the anchoring point for a constrictor.
(Don't even get me started about "pet tarantulas!")