OXFORD, Fla. – A 12-foot pet Burmese python broke out of a terrarium and strangled a 2-year-old girl in her bedroom Wednesday at a central Florida home, authorities said.

Shaunnia Hare was already dead when paramedics arrived about 10 a.m., Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County sheriff's office said.

Charles Jason Darnell, the snake's owner and the boyfriend of Shaunnia's mother, discovered the snake missing from its terrarium and went to the girl's room, where he found it on the girl and bite marks on her head, Caruthers said. Darnell, 32, stabbed the snake until he was able to pry the child away.

"The baby's dead!" a sobbing caller from the house screamed to a 911 dispatcher in a recording. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby."

Authorities did not identify the caller and removed the person's name from the recording.

Authorities removed the snake, which was still alive, from the home Wednesday afternoon. Once outside the small, tan home, bordered by cow pastures, the snake was placed in a bag, then inside a dog crate.

Darnell did not have a permit for the snake, which would be a second-degree misdemeanor, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He has not been charged, but Caruthers said investigators were looking into whether there was child neglect or if any other laws were broken.

Some owners have freed pythons into the wild and a population has taken hold in the Everglades. Scientists speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons, which can reach a length of 26 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds, escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing since.

The Associated Press

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