TORONTO (AP) — The manager of a Canadian zoo says officials are preparing to remove more than a dozen animals from an exotic pet store beneath the apartment where two boys were asphyxiated by a python while they slept.

Bruce Dougan, the manager of the Magnetic Hill Zoo in New Brunswick, said Thursday it could take two days to safely remove 16 animals that the shop didn't have permits for.

Dougan, who is helping in the removal, says there are four large alligators, six crocodiles and some tortoises, turtles and snakes.

He says most of the animals will be taken to an Ontario zoo.

Noah Barthe, 4, and his brother Connor, 6, were found dead Monday after the snake escaped from its enclosure. They were sleeping in the apartment of the pet store owner, a family friend.