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More exotic snakes seized in Longview

By Tony Lystra / The Daily News The Daily News Online | Posted: Monday, September 5, 2011 11:50 pm

An animal control officer seized two large boa constrictors from a Longview apartment Monday, saying the snakes posed a danger to a 5-year-old boy who lived there.

Mike Nicholson, an animal control officer with the Cowlitz County Humane Society, said it was the fourth time this year that he has taken exotic reptiles away from their owners. Already this year he's seized a rattle snake, an anaconda and an alligator.

In addition to the two snakes seized Monday, Nicholson said he had been on a separate call earlier in the day searching for a missing 4-foot ball python. That snake, which escaped from a home in the in the 200 block of 22nd Avenue in Longview, has been missing for two days and still hadn't been found as of Monday evening, Nicholson said.

Nicholson said local residents are ordering the snakes online. Each of the reptile owners have been men in their 20s or early 30s, he said. He compared the trend to the popularity of pit-bulls in recent years.

Nicholson said animal control officers are cracking down on unpermitted exotic snakes because they're a threat to the public.

"I can't have a snake getting loose and killing a child," he said.

The city requires people to register exotic animals, including snakes that can grow to 10 feet or more, Nicholson said. People who don't register their snakes could find them confiscated and face citations and fines, he said.

"If you just keep these animals and hide them, we're going to take them," Nicholson said.

Nicholson said he visited an apartment at 33rd Avenue and Dorothy Street around 1 p.m. Monday where a man kept a 7-foot albino red-tailed boa constrictor as well as a 6-foot red-tailed boa constrictor.

He said the snakes, which wrap around their prey and squeeze, were kept in an aquarium in an upstairs bedroom. The owner had no locks on the enclosure, Nicholson said, adding that he feared the 5-year-old boy who lives at the apartment could have turned the snakes loose or the snakes could have escaped and turned on the child.

"These things can grow to up to 15 feet," Nicholson said. "I believe that boy was at risk."

To register or report an exotic animal, call the Humane Society's animal control division at (360) 577-0151.

http://tdn.com/news/local/article_b36aa82e-d832-11e0-afcf-001cc4c002e0.html

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