This father believes his young daughter is completely safe playing with a deadly python.
It is usually adorable to see potentially dangerous animals getting along with children. How many dog lovers have seen photos of large breeds such as German Shepherds, Doberman Pinschers, Great Danes, and the like, and been overwhelmed by the cuteness?
Obviously, some people who dislike cats do not understand and believe that the child is in danger, when in reality, the family cat is protecting the child.
I’m sure that both dog and cat enthusiasts would object to this situation. In fact, numerous people on the internet have expressed their disapproval, and I must say that I agree with them. This involves a beloved family pet.
In this case, the family pet is a reptile – a 13-foot Burmese python to be precise. The python’s name is Nay-Nay, though personally, I think it should be No-No given the potential danger it poses.
Jamie Guarino, a 34-year-old father from White Lake Michigan, has raised Nay-Nay since the python was just a small size, like a little rubber band.
Guarino sparked controversy when he shared a video of the python playing with his then 14-month-old daughter Alyssa. The video was uploaded to the Barcroft TV channel and shows Nay-Nay slithering over Alyssa as Guarino speaks to both his daughter and the snake in a baby voice.
Yes, alarming on various fronts.
Guarino is a skilled snake handler and as per abc7News, he says he has been a “snake charmer” since his teenage years. For those who are not familiar with the term, Wikipedia defines snake charming as “the practice of appearing to hypnotize a snake (usually a cobra) by playing and waving around an instrument called a pungi. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly dangerous acts, as well as other street performance routines, like juggling and sleight of hand.”
“When individuals watch this video, they typically respond with fear or negativity, and I don’t understand why,” he said. He then goes on to say, “This is a deep-seated fear, and I think individuals have been programmed.”
And for those who he believes have been programmed, he has a message.
“To those of you who might perceive this video as reckless or dangerous, I urge you to take a moment. Don’t judge based on fear or something unfamiliar to you. Snakes can be, and are, affectionate creatures.”
Let’s take a moment and consider the facts apart from emotions. Unlike dogs and other domesticated animals, which have been bred to be pets or have evolved to live with humans, Burmese pythons have not been domesticated and are not suited to living with people.
Here’s what National Geographic has to say about this snake:
“…generally docile personality…”
“Attacks on handlers, sometimes deadly, are not uncommon.”
“Burmese pythons are predators, feeding primarily on small mammals and birds.”
“They kill by constriction, seizing a victim with their sharp teeth, coiling their bodies around the animal, and squeezing until it suffocates.”
Little Alyssa Guarino was a “young child” when this video was taken. So it’s not unusual that so many took exception, in spite of Guarino’s assertion that, “My daughter was absolutely in no danger.”
There have also been much-publicized incidents in the last couple of years where pythons killed children. In one case, reported by the New York Times in 1996, it appears the snake mistook its owner for food.
“A 13-foot python, kept as a pet in a Bronx housing project by two teenage brothers that wanted to make careers out of caring for reptiles, killed one of the brothers yesterday afternoon, possibly having mistaken him for food.”
In another, more recent instance in 2013, two young children in Canada were killed. According to National Geographic,
“The deaths of two young children found strangled in New Brunswick, Canada, early Monday morning have been attributed to a snake that escaped from an exotic pet store located below the apartment where they were staying.
Authorities speculate that the snake broke free from its enclosure at the Reptile Ocean store sometime overnight, made its way into the ventilation system, and then into the upstairs apartment where the young boys, apparently brothers aged 5 and 7 years old, were staying over with the son of the store’s owner.”
Guarino attempts to dispute these facts with some statistics of his own.
” If you look into the statistics, there are 95 percent more dog attacks than snake attacks.”
Perhaps that is because most people are more likely to encounter dogs in their daily lives than they are to encounter snakes? Whatever his reasoning in uploading the video, things did not go quite as Guarino planned. The Oakland Free Press reports that the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office has requested the Department of Human Services to conduct an investigation into whether his children were being neglected or abused.
What is your opinion? Do you believe that pythons are truly harmless creatures that are misunderstood?
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Rewritten Source: https://pawmypets.com/dad-defends-decision-to-allow-his/