Python bites boy during Halloween party

A 10-year-old boy was bitten twice by a Burmese Python during a Halloween party Saturday.

Cyprus Credit Union in West Jordan hosts Halloween events for the community every year. This year they hired the reptile company Scales and Tails out of Salt Lake City for an event on Oct. 30. About 30 children were at the credit union to look at the animals. During the grand finale, animal handlers had 30 children hold the 14-foot long python.

10-year-old Jaren Barker was less than two feet from the snake’s head when it bit him.

“So then all the other kids panicked and dropped the snake and they were crying and screaming and my son wasn’t facing me but then he turned and there was blood coming out of his face and his neck, everywhere. I think he was in shock,” said Jaren’s mother, Christian Martin.

Jaren received bites to his chin, face and under his ear. His mother says he was released from the hospital that same day.

Jaren’s mother says she wants the snake put down.

“I just want to make sure it never happens again to another kid …that they do safer shows. I was told that they should have had an assistant helping with a snake that big,” said Martin.

Scales and Tails owner, Shane Richens says it’s not unusual to have only one person handling the animal. He says in more than 200 shows, the python has never attacked anyone.

The company plans on continuing the shows, but will change animal handling procedures.

“From now on the handler’s not only going to be near the head, he’s going to be the only one holding the head. She [the python] still had some reach distance. We’re going to have the kids hold from the middle back,” says Richens.

The boy’s father has retained an attorney, but no word yet as to whether legal action will be filed.