CANTON — A flier tacked to a bulletin board in Malone University’s Timken Science Hall reads:



“Stop the National Python & Boa Ban.”



It is adjacent to room T-182. The room in which 19 pythons are quarantined.



Christopher Carmichael enters.



Inside, rows of cages with clear, plastic covers keep the pythons contained. The constrictor snakes range in size from the 6-foot-long Burmese python to the reticulated python, which stretches 20 feet in length and weighs 200 pounds.



“We already have these animals captive, so how can we give them the best life possible?” says Carmichael, director of the zoo biology program at Malone.



Not too long ago, the pythons didn’t have the best life possible. They were cold and sick and living in someone’s Cleveland home. The pythons were rescued recently after a neighbor complained to the Animal Protective League.



Cleveland has had a long-standing law that makes exotic snakes illegal to have in the city. And, before leaving office last month, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland banned private ownership of exotic animals — statewide.



TO THE RESCUE



There are few exceptions to the new statewide exotic animal ban, but Malone University is one of them. Research universities are allowed to keep such animals, as well as zoo and wildlife rehabilitation facilities, the law states.



The problem, according to Carmichael, is most Ohio zoos and a number of wildlife rehabilitation facilities have no space to keep banned exotic animals. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, which partners with the Malone zoo biology program, didn’t have room for the constrictor snakes.



“That’s why we were called,” Carmichael said. On Jan. 22, Malone’s wildlife biology and zoology students carried the pythons out of the Cleveland home and brought them back to the college campus off of 25th Street NW.



“They are in much better shape than I thought they were going to be,” said Carmichael, adding that just one of the 20 pythons rescued died from illness. The others are expected to survive.



PROBLEM OWNERS, NOT EXOTIC ANIMALS



Ultimately, Malone hopes to find good homes for the snakes. But, until the ban on exotic pets is revised, Carmichael said, it will be “nearly impossible.



“The spirit of the law is good, but there are a number of problems with it,” he said. “Because of the ban, we can’t find the space (outside of the college) to house these captive animals, and vets can’t treat exotic animals unless the owner has a permit. But the permit system isn’t set up yet.



“What we really need to do is educate people,” Carmichael added. “When they let their exotic animal go into the wild — that’s the problem.”

www.cantonrep.com/news/x1371485037/Malone-University-rescues-pythons

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