Connor Barthe, age 7, and Noah Barthe, age 5, were found dead Monday morning after an African rock python escaped from its enclosure in a pet shop on the first floor and strangled them in their friend’s apartment on the second floor overnight.
Pythons kill their prey by strangling them after coiling around their victims’ bodies.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Julie Rogers-Marsh said the python apparently slithered into the ventilation system and made it to the living room, where the boys were sleeping. The boys were sleeping in the pet owner’s apartment above the pet store. Owner discovered the boys about 6:00 a.m. when he noticed a ventilation cover open in the ceiling. He then saw the dead boys, and found the snake a short time later.
Campbellton, New Brunswick first responders arrived about 6:30 a.m. Monday to find the two boys were strangled by the snake. An investigation is underway, but initially it is believed that the enclosure was locked property, but the snake was able to escape.
In incredible footage, an African rock python swallows a springbok antelope. It has jaws designed to engulf meals three times bigger than its head.
