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The snakes were in a single motel room in Brantford, Ontario

Two of the four people occupying the room were children

SPCA official: Pythons "were not being suitably cared for and were in distress"

No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed

CNN  — 

Police say 40 ball pythons were confiscated from a single motel room on Thursday in Brantford, Ontario, about 65 miles southwest of Toronto.

The room was occupied at the time by four people – two of them children.

The incident comes just weeks after two young brothers were strangled to death by a large, exotic python as they slept at a friend’s house in Campbellton, New Brunswick.

The Children’s Aid Society of Brant is investigating the welfare of those children, Brantford Police Sgt. Cheney Venn told CNN.

Though it’s against the law to own a python in Brantford, no arrests have been made and no charges have been filed; nor have any names have been released by authorities.

The pythons ranged in size from 1 foot to 4½ feet, and they were stored in several plastic storage bins.

“It appeared as though they were being kept for breeding purposes” Sgt. Venn told CNN. “(They) were not being suitably cared for and were in distress.”

They were seized from the Bell City Motel by the county’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to executive director Robin Kuchma.

She said in an e-mail they have since been sent “off to a rescue where those who are experienced can care for them.”

An exasperated employee who answered the phone at the Bell City Motel pleaded to be left alone before hanging up when reached by CNN Friday night.

Venn says the couple and two children checked in a few days ago, after being evicted from their prior residence. He did not know whether the snakes played a role in their eviction.

Venn said the Bell City Motel has a “no pets” policy.