Two boys sleeping over a friend’s house in the Canadian town of Campbellton, New Brunswick, were strangled to death by a python that escaped its cage, police said late Monday.
The boys were 5 and 7 years old, USA Today reported. Their friend’s home — where they slept — was located above an exotic pet store.
“The preliminary investigation has led police to believe that a python snake escaped its enclosure in the store sometime overnight,” said Constable Julie Rogers-Marsh, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
A former employee of the pet store said the snake, an African rock python, was up to 16 feet long.
Authorities say they still don’t know how the snake escaped, but that it slithered up the ventilation system into the apartment. The python was turned over to the police, USA Today reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.