Python Strangles Two Year Old Florida Girl

July 1, 2009 12:41 p.m. EST

Oxford, FL (AHN) - A 2-year-old girl was strangled by the family's pet python Wednesday morning in this town about 60 miles north of Orlando.

While Burmese pythons, which are not native to North America, live in the wild in south Florida as far north as Sarasota, the snake was a family pet that escaped from its cage, a spokesman for the Sumter County sheriff's office told the Orlando Sentinel.

The girl's parents, who were home at the time, found the snake wrapped around the child.

The Burmese python is "one of the most commonly kept exotic snakes in the pet trade because of its 'gentle' disposition," according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.