Animals to be removed from pet shop beneath apartment where snake killed boys

CAMPBELLTON, N.B. – The manager of a New Brunswick zoo says officials are preparing to remove more than a dozen animals from an exotic pet store in Campbellton, N.B., beneath the apartment where police say two boys were asphyxiated by an African rock python while they slept.

Bruce Dougan, the manager of the Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton, N.B., says it could take two days to safely remove 16 animals and put them into crates.

Dougan, who has been inside Reptile Ocean, says there are four large American alligators, six crocodiles, some tortoises, turtles and snakes in the shop.

He says the tortoises will be going to his zoo, while the rest of the animals seized will be taken to the Indian River Reptile zoo in Ontario.

Four-year-old Noah Barthe and his six-year-old brother Connor were found dead in an apartment above Reptile Ocean on Monday morning after the 45-kilogram snake escaped from a glass enclosure in the home.

A funeral service for the boys is scheduled for Saturday.