Python owner may be charged in death

OXFORD, Fla., July 2 (UPI) -- The owner of a Burmese python that strangled a 2-year-old girl in Oxford, Fla., may soon face charges in the incident, according to state law.

WKMG-TV, Orlando, said Jason Darnell may be charged with not adequately securing his pet python under Florida statutes regarding snake ownership.

The 8 1/2-foot snake owned by Darnell, who could also be charged with child neglect and failing to have a license for his exotic animal, killed young Shaiunna Hare Wednesday as she slept in her family's Sumter County home. The animal had escaped from its cage prior to attacking the child.

Darnell's daughter, Kirsten, told WKMG Shaiunna routinely played with the python.

"She would always play with it -- she would hug it and pick it up by its head and hug it and everything," Kirsten said.

The deadly incident prompted a call for more stringent exotic pet regulations by state officials from Nick Atwood, an Animal Rights Foundation of Florida campaign coordinator.

"This is a tragic, tragic accident," Atwood told The Miami Herald. "It only reinforces our belief that the state needs to do more to regulate and control exotic species."