Python attack aftermath: Ontario considers regulating exotic animals

Two New Brunswick boys are dead after they were strangled by a python that escaped from an exotic pet store.

TORONTO -- Ontario is considering provincial regulations to control ownership of exotic animals after two New Brunswick boys were believed to have been killed by a python.

Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur says she asked for an update after hearing about the tragedy in northern New Brunswick, and was told the regulation of exotic animals is left up to municipalities.

Meilleur says she wants to talk with towns and cities about having the province create one common set of regulations to replace the municipal patchwork of rules.

She says there are protections for the animals themselves, but there's no specific regulation to protect people who may be put at risk by exotic pets like pythons.

However, Meilleur says she will first consult with the municipalities before the province takes any action.

The RCMP say Noah and Connor Barthe, aged four and six, were found dead Monday after a 45-kilogram African rock python escaped from its enclosure in the apartment, slithered through a ventilation pipe and fell through the ceiling in the room where the two boys were sleeping.