FREDERICTON – The mother of two young boys who died when they were asphyxiated by a python in Campbellton, N.B. says she’s pleased to see work being done to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Through social media communication with Global News, Mandy Trecartin said she will try to wrap her head around the arrest of Jean-Claude Savoie once she knows the charges he will face.
Savoie was arrested Thursday and RCMP announced Friday he would be charged in connection with the August 2013 deaths of Connor and Noah Barthe. The specific charges were not revealed.
Trecartin said she is glad to see work being done on exotic pet regulations but is having a hard time believing things will change.
“I think anything that can be done to prevent things like this happening again is obviously a positive thing,” she said.
“Hope is not something I come by very easily anymore. And hoping doesn’t make things happen, so I just try and wait and see what happens.”
Work is being done through a five-month-old task force to review the province’s exotic pet regulations and how we enforce them.
“Our task is to come up with some recommendations as to how we can eliminate gaps in the current legislation policies and procedures. We’re right in the midst of that now,” said task force chair Bruce Dougan.
Dougan helped safely remove the animals left at Reptile Ocean, Savoie’s pet store. He said the group has been meeting about twice a month, and will meet three times each in February and March.
The task force has been meeting with government, organizations and individuals to fill in the policy gaps.
“We’re just collecting all of that material and working on putting pen to paper and getting this report done for the end of March,” Dougan said.
Campbellton Mayor Bruce MacIntosh said he’s been working with other cities across Canada to ensure they’re aware of their own exotic pet regulations.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t save the lives of the two boys but at least we can stop it from happening in some other community in Canada,” he said.
With files from Shelley Steeves, Global News
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