Canada
Exclussive: 40 Pythons Found In Brantford Ontario Motel Room
40 pythons motel room
40 Pythons Found in Ontario Motel Room
Brantford, Ontario – less than a fortnight after two young boys from New Brunswick were tragically killed in their sleep by a python that got loose from the exotic pet shop below their apartment, police have confiscated 40 pythons from a room at the Bell City Motel roughly 65 miles outside of Toronto.
“Early [Thursday] evening, the Brantford police called us to come out and assist with a large number of snakes they had found,” said Brandon James, spokesman for the Brant County SPCA. “When we arrived, we found very overcrowded conditions with approximately 40 snakes.”
The snakes were no less than one foot in length and some reached as much as 4.5 feet. Police say there were four occupants in the room of which two were children.
They believe the snakes were being bred, but the conditions they were being kept in were causing the reptiles distress; they were kept in plastic bag containers.
As for the snakes, they were placed in the care of an animal rescue and are reportedly doing fine. Local media have descended upon the hotel for comment on the controversy.
The snakes were in distress because of the cramped conditions and lack of water, James said.
“I don’t know how long they were in those tote containers for, but it’s very stressful for the snakes.”
The police sergeant has said that the occupants had recently been evicted and did not disclose the snakes to hotel management; the hotel has a not pet policy.
According to CBC, the couple who rented the room had five children with them.
The snakes belonged to a local couple who stayed at the room for only one night, a manager at the motel told The Canadian Press. The couple were out Thursday evening when police arrived, said the manager, who asked that his name not be used.
Paul Sizer, a guest in a neighbouring room at the motel, told CBC News that the couple had five young children with them, including a baby.
“The first night I was afraid of [the snakes] getting out and coming after me,” he said.
The pythons were in the care of the Brant County SPCA Friday and transported to a reptile facility somewhere in Ontario in the early evening. James would would not say where they were going.
It should be noted that there is no local city ordinance against owning pythons. However, the Children’s Aid Society is looking into possible charges of child endangerment. The police have not charged anyone at this time.
The Bell City Motel in Brantford, ON on Friday Aug. 16, 2013,where 40 snakes were found in storage bins in one of the rooms which had been rented by a couple.
On The Web:
40 pythons seized from Ontario motel room
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/16/world/americas/canada-motel-pythons/index.html
Dozens of illegal pythons seized from British Columbia home
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/dozens-of-illegal-pythons-seized-from-british-columbia-home-1.1415239
