so that was one of the family members speaking about these two little boys who, according to police wrrks strangled by this 99 pound snake, this python. tom stoff is the president and ceo of the ohio zoo. welcome. i see you re sitting i believe i ve been told there is a snake somewhere next to you behind you so we can take a look at that in a minute. first, when you hear this story of this snake slithering out of this cage, up this ventilation area falling through the ceiling, is this python behavior? how does this happen? first of all, thank you. our condolences to the family. what a tragedy. here at the columbus zoo we focus on wildlife and wild places. it s very unusual for a tragedy. in the last 12 years there have been 12 people that have lost