
 
 Andrea Janus, CTVNews.ca 
 
 
 
 
 
 There are thousands of pythons of the type that killed two little boys in New Brunswick Monday, but a fatal attack on humans is extremely rare, experts say. 
 
 Police in Campbellton, N.B., said a snake escaped its enclosure at an exotic pet store at some point in the night and travelled through the building’s ventilation system to an apartment upstairs. The boys, aged 5 and 7, were found around 6:30 a.m. 
 
 Both had been strangled by the snake. 
 
 The animal was later identified as an African rock python, one of the largest snake breeds in the world. 
 
 While it sounds exotic, there are “thousands and thousands and thousands” of pythons in homes across Canada, according to Bry Loyst, curator of Ontario’s Indian River Reptile Zoo. 
 
 “They’re not rare at all,” Loyst said in a telephone interview. “You can buy them everywhere. They are all over Canada.” 
 
 The snakes are easily purchased, Loyst said, because most provinces do not have laws controlling exotic animals. Rather, would-be owners are subject to whatever city by-laws are in place where they live. 
 
 Despite their prevalence across Canada, Loyst said, “they don’t attack people and try to kill them intentionally.” 
 
 “We’re not on their menu. Snakes don’t eat people.” 
 
 Loyst’s theory in the New Brunswick case is that the snake mistook one child for food, bit him and began to coil around him and then wrapped up the second child, as well. 
 
 “(Snakes) mistake you for food,” Loyst said. “So for all we know these kids had chicken for dinner and they smelled like chicken.” 
 
 Another renowned snake expert says the New Brunswick case may be the first time a snake has killed two people at once. 
 
 Paul “Little Ray” Goulet, owner of Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo, said the incident was not a defensive attack. 
 
 “When they grab and asphyxiate an animal by squeezing it as hard as they can, that’s not a self-defence action, that’s a feeding response,” Goulet said in a telephone interview. “For self-defence, a snake will bite and let go, bite and let go, bite and let go -- and I mean bite and immediately let go.” 
 
 It also doesn’t make a difference whether the animal was over- or under-fed, both men agree, because snakes do not seek out their food, they lie in wait before ambushing their prey. 
 
 “They don’t move much,” Loyst said. “They wait for food to come to them, they are opportunistic feeders.” 
 
 Pythons in captivity eat mice and rats when they are younger and move on to chickens and rabbits as they get older, he said. 
 
 Goulet said such incidents are extremely rare, especially considering that thousands of large snakes are sold across North America every year. 
 
 He does not condone keeping large snakes as pets, “because they are large, very powerful animals.” But anyone who does must ensure that “if that animal gets out of its enclosure, there’s no way the snake can leave the room it’s in or the facility that it’s in.” 
 
 Many professional facilities will have a double-door system as an extra safeguard against human error, such as someone forgetting to lock a gate, he said. 
 
 With files from Michael Stittle ||||| A portrait of Noah and Connor Barthe rests on the altar at their funeral on Aug. 10, 2013. Jury selection has begun for the trial of Jean-Claude Savoie, who owned the African rock python that killed two young brothers in New Brunswick. ( Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS ) 
 
 CAMPBELLTON, N.B. — Jury selection is underway for a man charged in the deaths of two New Brunswick boys who were suffocated by a python in August 2013. Jean-Claude Savoie, who now lives near Montreal, is charged with criminal negligence causing death. He pleaded not guilty as the case convened Monday. Four-year-old Noah Barthe and his six-year-old brother, Connor, died after a 45-kilogram African rock python fell on top of them as they slept in Savoie’s apartment in Campbellton, N.B. At the time, the RCMP said the snake managed to get out of its tank overnight and into a ventilation pipe in the ceiling. 
 
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 Its weight caused the pipe to collapse and the snake fell into the room where the boys were sleeping. The apartment was above the Reptile Ocean pet store, also owned by Savoie, who was a family friend of the boys and had taken them shopping and to a farm before the sleepover with his son. Zoo staff seized 23 reptiles from the store in the days after their deaths. The reptiles were banned without a permit in New Brunswick. Four large American alligators were euthanized. 
 
 Since 1992, the African rock python has been banned in New Brunswick unless a permit is obtained. Environment Canada said one of its wildlife officers took the snake to Reptile Ocean in 2002. Mark Johnson, a spokesman for the department, said they were asked to help take the snake to Reptile Ocean after it was abandoned at the SPCA in Moncton, N.B. In an email, he said department records indicate Reptile Ocean was operating as a zoo when the snake arrived at the facility in August 2002. Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums, the only nationally recognized body in the country that grants accreditation for zoos, said Reptile Ocean was never accredited nor requested accreditation. The province’s Natural Resources Department said it was not aware the African rock python was being kept in the apartment prior to the deaths of the boys. Jury selection is being held at the Campbellton Civic Centre in order to accommodate nearly 400 potential jurors. One end of the rink has been converted into a makeshift court. “Your job will be to consider the evidence, and in the end decide if Jean-Claude Savoie is guilty or not-guilty,” Judge Fred Ferguson told the potential jurors. Once jury selection is complete, the trial will be held at the nearby Campbellton courthouse. Two weeks have been set aside for the trial. 
 
 Read more about: ||||| Canada Canadian pet owner's trial begins in python case related to boys' deaths Brothers Connor and Noah Barthe died from asphyxiation in 2013 at a friend’s house and police say they were killed by an African rock python Police said the python, not pictured, had escaped its enclosure and slithered into the ventilation system. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP 
 
 A criminal trial has begun in the Canadian province of New Brunswick over the deaths of two young boys believed to have been suffocated by a 14-foot python. 
 
 
 
 Connor Barthe, six, and his brother Noah, four, had spent the night at a friend’s house in 2013. Early the next morning, the two were found dead. 
 
 Soon after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alleged the pair had been killed by an African rock python – one of the world’s largest snakes. Police said the python, which was being kept as a pet in the apartment, had escaped its enclosure and slithered into the ventilation system. The weight of the 45kg (99lb) snake collapsed a ventilation shaft, sending the snake crashing into the living room where the two boys were sleeping. 
 
 Autopsies later determined the boys died from asphyxiation. “We recognize that this has touched the hearts of people across the world and that people want to know how this could have happened,” RCMP spokesman Alain Tremblay said in a statement at the time. He said the snake, which was put down shortly after the incident, had been found close to the boys’ bodies. 
 
 Jean-Claude Savoie, a former pet store owner and owner of the apartment is facing a charge of criminal negligence causing death. Savoie, 39, has pleaded not guilty. 
 
 The tragic deaths rocked the small town of Campbellton, population 7,000, in northern New Brunswick and sparked a national debate over whether more should be done to regulate the sale of exotic pets. 
 
 In the days following the boys’ deaths, provincial authorities seized 23 banned reptiles from Savoie’s pet store, located beneath his apartment. The animals were sent to zoos in New Brunswick and Ontario. Four American alligators had to be killed after no accredited zoo could be found to house them. 
 
 African rock pythons have been banned in New Brunswick since 1992, save for accredited zoos which require a permit to keep the animals. Environment Canada told the Canadian Press that federal officials believed Savoie’s pet store was operating as a zoo and had brought him the snake after it was abandoned at a nearby SPCA. The province has said it wasn’t aware that the snake was being kept in the apartment. 
 
 The trial, which began on Monday with jury selection, is expected to last two weeks. ||||| Twelve jurors and two alternates have been chosen from a pool of about 400 in the case of Jean-Claude Savoie, who is charged with criminal negligence causing death. 
 
 Savoie, 39, the former owner of a Campbellton pet store, was charged after six-year-old Connor Barthe and his four-year-old brother Noah were killed by an escaped African rock python in Savoie's apartment in August 2013. 
 
 Potential jurors dealt with long lines at the Campbellton Civic Centre as jury selection began Monday morning. Two-thousand people were called for jury duty. 
 
 Many were excused early as some knew the Barthe brothers' family personally. 
 
 Justice Frederick Ferguson said the case will be heard in English, which led to more potential jurors being excused because they were not comfortable communicating in that language. 
 
 The Barthe boys were found to have been asphyxiated by the snake while at a sleepover in Savoie's home with the accused's son. 
 
 Since the deaths, Savoie has stayed out of the public eye. 
 
 He was absent throughout the preliminary inquiry that decided the matter would go to trial, appearing in court only when a decision was handed down. 
 
 Several family members of Connor and Noah attended the preliminary inquiry, and their paternal grandparents were also present at every other court date in this case. 
 
 Mother included in witness list 
 
 A jury has been selected in the criminal negligence causing death trial of Jean-Claude Savoie. (Bridget Yard/CBC) 
 
 In court Monday the Crown read a list of witnesses. Those named include the brothers' mother Mandy Trecartin as well as several police officers and three doctors. 
 
 Savoie was well known in the area before moving away after the tragedy. 
 
 Provincial officials have said Savoie's Reptile Ocean pet store and zoo was unlicensed. His apartment was located above the shop. 
 
 It is believed the python, which was 4.3 metres long and weighed about 45 kilograms, escaped its enclosure in the apartment, got into the ventilation system, then fell through the ceiling of the room in which the Barthe brothers were sleeping. 
 
 Savoie will be defended by Campbellton lawyer Leslie Matchim. 
 
 The maximum sentence for criminal negligence causing death is life imprisonment. 
 
 The trial will begin Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to last until Nov. 11.
– A Canadian man is facing trial three years after an exotic python escaped from its enclosure and killed two young boys sleeping in his apartment. Jean-Claude Savoie, 39, faces one charge of criminal negligence causing death, the CBC reports. The charge stems from the 2013 deaths of Connor Barthe, 6, and Noah Barthe, 4, who were attending a sleepover with Savoie's son in the apartment Savoie occupied above his pet store, Reptile Ocean. A 100-pound, 14-foot-long African rock python that was being kept in the apartment escaped from its enclosure at some point during the night, and found its way into the building's ventilation system. While the snake was slithering through vents in the ceiling, the ventilation shaft collapsed, and the snake asphyxiated the boys while they slept. It was later euthanized by Canadian authorities. Jury selection began on Monday in the Canadian city of Campbellton, the Star reports. While 2,000 prospective jurors were called to the pool, many were dismissed because they knew family members of the victims—the community of Campbellton has a population of only 7,000, according to the Guardian. Despite the rather intimidating nature of such a large snake, CTV News says the animals aren't usually dangerous—and only very rarely do they commit fatal attacks against humans. Still, many professional keepers of such pets use some sort of double-gate system to ensure against escape. Savoie, who has pleaded not guilty, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. (Cops say an angry man let loose a python in a sushi restaurant.)