Tasered Python

[slacker]

Irregular News for 01.02.07

 

Tarpon Springs, FL -- Chloe, a 14-foot female Burmese python and the only serpent at the Tarpon Springs Aquarium, was considered the favorite among the animals.

 

But on Saturday, Chloe likely mistook the hand of 18-year-old Alison Cobianchi, an aquarium employee and St. Petersburg College freshman, for a rabbit and attacked, sinking her teeth into Cobianchi's knuckles and wrapping around her arm and waist.

 

It took a police Taser to get Chloe to turn her victim loose and return to her cage.

 

Cobianchi, who was treated at a hospital for minor hand wounds and released, vowed Saturday evening to never go near a snake again.

 

"It was definitely the most scary and painful thing that has ever happened to me," she said at her Holiday home. "I knew I wasn't going to die, but I was worried I wouldn't get my hand back."

 

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is investigating, said Chloe's attack is a reminder that wild animals can always be a threat.

 

Pythons, which are nonvenomous, kill by wrapping around prey and squeezing, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the commission.

 

"They are very capable of doing some serious damage," he said. "She was very lucky."

 

The attack occurred as Cobianchi was preparing to take Chloe out of her cage for the aquarium's daily snake presentation, during which handlers discuss the natural habitat and growth cycle of pythons.

 

Chloe had been acting strangely all day, waiting by the front door of her cage as if she were hungry. Cobianchi slid open the cage door as usual at about 1:30 p.m. and prepared to pull the snake out.

 

But immediately, Chloe lunged, seizing several of Cobianchi's fingers as a small crowd of visitors watched in horror, she said.

 

Cobianchi slid the cage door shut, leaving a small space for her arm, which Chloe continued to grip. Her tail slid out through the space, trying to grip Cobianchi's waist. Her manager held her shoulders so the snake could not pull her into the cage.

 

As blood began to pour from her hand, Cobianchi said, she burst into tears.

 

Several visitors and aquarium employees tried to loosen Chloe's grip, but she just tightened it.

 

Visitors were cleared from the area and the police were called.

 

Chloe released her grasp three seconds after she was Tasered, said police Sgt. Allen MacKenzie. The snake was not seriously injured, he said.

 

"We either had to Taser it or we would have had to kill it," he said.

 

Cobianchi said she was already in so much pain, she did not feel any electric shock.

 

Scott Konger, who opened the aquarium in 1990, said this is the second time 14-year-old Chloe has injured someone. Several years ago, she bit him while he was feeding her a rat.

 

It was the first serious injury involving an employee at the aquarium, a small attraction at the end of Tarpon Springs' Sponge Docks known for its open tanks, where visitors can pet Chloe, as well as stingrays and small sharks.

 

For now, the aquarium's snake show has been indefinitely canceled. Konger is considering purchasing his own handheld Taser in case of future animal attacks.

 

He said he often has safety talks with employees, who can mistake the animals they handle daily as "cuddly."

 

"Sometimes they think these animals are like puppy dogs," he said. "I kept warning them that the snake could bite."

 

Chloe is usually fed two dead rabbits once a month. Her next feeding is scheduled for Wednesday. Konger said she was probably hungry when she bit Cobianchi.

 

As for Cobianchi, who is majoring in zoology, she is left nursing puncture wounds from Chloe's upper jaw on her wrist.

 

"She was my favorite animal that we had," she said. "Not anymore."

 

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[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

Did they ask the snake if he thought it was a rabbit?? Otherwise......how did they know??