Pet python kills girl by coiling around neck

Associated Press — Aug. 27, 2001

IRWIN, Pa. — An 8-year-old girl died after her family's pet Burmese python wrapped itself around her neck and suffocated her.

The 10-foot-long snake was one of five owned by the family, police said.

Amber Mountain's mother left home for a short time on Wednesday, Aug. 22, and returned to find that the snake had escaped from its cage. The girl was unconscious and had no pulse when paramedics arrived.

She died at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Friday night, the Allegheny County Coroner's office said.

The Westmoreland County District Attorney's office and Irwin police are investigating. Phone calls to the family's home were not immediately returned Saturday.

It is legal to keep exotic snakes as pets in Irwin, southeast of Pittsburgh. Pythons kill by coiling themselves around their prey and constricting until their victims are asphyxiated.

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