A 2-year-old girl in Florida was killed after the Burmese Python her family kept as a pet got hold of the child and bit and strangled her.

The dangers of owning an exotic pet became all too real for one mother today as her boyfriend’s pet snake kills her baby girl. Sumter County Sheriff’s authorities confirm that a 8 1/2 foot-long Burmese python snake killed the mother’s 2-year-old girl after the snake escaped from its container and attacked the baby in her room.

Two-year-old baby Shaiunna Hare was pronounced dead on Wednesday morning after Sumter County Sherriff’s Office received an emergency call that a snake killed a baby.

The owner of the Burmese python snake is Charles Jason Darnell. Darnell, 32, who lives in the home with the baby’s mother, Jaren Hare, 19, reportedly told investigators that he put the python in a bag before putting it into a glass cage Tuesday night.

Lori Drew, a woman who had been indicted in a MySpace hoax that authorities say led to a girl’s suicide has had her case dismissed by a federal court. Drew had been accused of setting up a fake MySpace page and luring 13-year-old Megan Meier into an online relationship which she then abruptly ended telling Megan, “You’re a shitty person, and the world would be a better place without you in it.”

The decision by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu will not become final until his written ruling is filed, probably next week. Wu said he was concerned that if Drew was found guilty of violating the terms of service in using MySpace, anyone who violated the terms could be convicted of a crime.

Drew 50, was to be sentenced in May but Wu had delayed the sentencing until today, saying he wanted to consider the defense motion to dismiss the entire case.

A federal jury convicted Drew in November of the three misdemeanor charges but deadlocked on a felony conspiracy charge that would have carried a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.