Parents at a daycare in St. Lazare are looking to put the squeeze on a two-metre long Burmese Python living nearby.
As many as 200 parents have signed a petition asking the city to impose tighter restrictions on the animal after it escaped from a home next to Le Royaume des Enfants daycare at 2277 Sainte-Angélique Rd. and slithered into their parking lot three weeks ago.
"It was underneath a car that was parked here," said owner Jose Raposo, who said police came to trap the snake.
It was brought back to its owners, who have the right to own the python. They declined an interview request from CTV.
The incident is not sitting well with the parents of the 60 children in the daycare at the time of the incident. They have gathered signatures to ask the city and local authorities to clamp down on the snake.
"I want children not to be killed, right, so it's plain and simple," said one parent outside the daycare.
While a two-metre Burmese Python doesn't pose much threat to humans, it is one of the six largest species of snake and can grow to a maximum of nearly six metres long.
Pythons should always be kept under lock and key, said Pat Benattar of Fine Line Serpents, a company that teaches children about snakes and other reptiles.
"If it was hungry, and if it mistook them for its food, it would have a feeding reaction. And this is a constrictor, so it's a powerful animal, it would grab a hold of the item that smelled like food and constrict, which basically means squeeze," explained Benattar.
Raposo will take the petition to the city of St. Lazare shortly.
