To the editor:

Giant constrictor snakes, like reticulated pythons, are nothing to mess around with as we learned from the recent death of a woman in Oxford who was attacked by her python.

Even scarier is that Indiana has no regulations over these highly dangerous wild and unpredictable animals. People can keep these snakes as pets regardless of the person's age, qualifications, or resources. If one of these snakes gets loose, they could show up virtually anywhere, including other people’s homes and backyards, putting children and pets at grave risk.

 In just the last few years, a Burmese python was spotted along a creek in Layfette, a reticulated python escaped in Hamilton County and was found a week later blocks away, and a giant python escaped from a mobile home in Mitchell and made its way into another nearby mobile home.

Indiana residents concerned about the safety of their communities should let their legislators know that we shouldn’t have to live in a fear of a neighbor’s dangerous snake and that the state needs to put restrictions on keeping giant pythons.

—Julia Duncan
Jasper