[JFK713]

Sorry Mule,

if a big python grabs and coils around you, you best have someone around. There are many confirmed cases of pet constrictors killing their owners in the US within the past few decades. I have worked with them for 20 years now and the speed and power is amazing. The bite and coil is so fast, you'd have to be extremely lucky to get to your knife even if it was out. My department policy is any time you are restraining any constrictor over 8 feet, there are to be at least two keepers present, and we have all the proper equipment and training in the event of an emergency. I suspect many of the deaths, sadly had alcohol involved, but am not sure. Scrub Pythons are a very common, and necessary part of Australian wildlife. Would I like to see one in my backyard, sure, just as I would enjoy seeing a coyote. Would I put my dog or cat out when one was known to be hanging about, not a chance.

PS: snake owners, please don't feed live mice to your snakes, it is not necessary, all 600+ of ours readily take freshly killed rodents. If left uneaten in the cage, a hungry rodent can do a lot of damage to a snake, not to mention the fact the suffocation or envenomation is probably the not best way to go.
Any Pelicans in or going to be in the San Diego area, pm me and I can show you around one of the best collections of Reptiles anywhere.