The third picture that they posted of the snake entitled "Snake Stretch" shows the officers addressing the large lump in the belly of the Anaconda. It appears to have recently eaten a sizable meal. I have primarilly stayed away from owning this species other than the time I housed a small hybrid for a friend for a few months. Most boas that I have ever kept over the years would voluntarily regurgitate their meals when exposed to extreme temps (high or low) and I'm not sure that I can see any way that this animal could have been on it's own in the cold for the past two weeks and still had the energy to catch and kill something the size of the lump in it's stomach unless it just got totally lucky. This animal seems to have been staged where it could be found. The other thing that bothers me about this article is that it states the the officer just happened to look in the drainage pipe. What was the officer doing that he just happened to look in a drain pipe to find that animal there. Sounds like they were looking for it on purpose.



"Englert said the snake was discovered in a drain pipe leading to a pond, which is probably where it eluded discovery — until the recent cold weather made him sluggish"



I could see a 12 footer being able to eat a regular wild duck or two. We raised the white version growing up. Most of these were never more than 5 pound full grown. We also raised Geese. We had African Gray geese that we at 20 puonds. We have plenty of wild Canadian Geese around here that run up to the 15 pound range. I'm not sure that I can see how their "Prize Goose" which was probably several years old and of considerable size at this point could have been eaten by a little 12 foot anaconda unless it was some sort of dwarf goose. Would there be any way that we can get ahold of this place and see in the next several weeks if they are still loosing ducks from the same pond. If they are then I would have to rule out that the anaconda had been there naturally for any length of time.



Here is my biggest concern. We have absolutely now way of knowin that there isn't someone working with the HSUS, Senator Nelson or any other animal rights group out there that hasn't pick up a permit to have such an animal, picked up the animal at some show and then purposefully released it for the good of their own interest.



I say that Florida needs to make it mandatory that microchip implants be placed in all of these potentially large boid species so that ownership can be tracked to some extent. I hate to beat on you fellow herpers in Florida but have you not been frequenting the local pet stores and reptile shows and beating it into everyones freeking heads that these actions are just not acceptable and will not be tolerated by anybody! I have a show in Indy this weekend and I have a 4 year old, 12 foot male Granite Burm that I've been trying to get rid of for some time. You can bet darn well that I won't be selling it to anybody that I don't feel has the capacity to care for an animal of this size. I thinl that that needs to be the attitude of each and every one of us in this hobby/business/industry if we want to continue to keep our rights to keep any if these animals.



Chris

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