Let me first say how grateful my wife and I are for all the support we have received. We have been flooded with emails and calls, as well as the show of support on this forum. We have had people offer to give us snakes, sell us replacement animals for as little as half normal price, offer to do breeding loans with the females we still have, the list goes on.
When I came home from work yesterday evening it was like a punch in the gut. As some of you know, my wife had a miscarriage last Thursday and had been home resting since. She returned to work on Wednesday and the very next day we were robbed. This had already been a very painful week for our family. I am happy though that we are all safe and that my wife was not home during the break in.
When this happened, I had assumed my opportunity in the reptile industry was over. We had invested all of our savings/retirement on these snakes and had yet to receive any return. We had hoped to have a good breeding year in 2004.
Through the generous out pouring of support from the reptile community we hope to continue our dreams of producing some of the most beautiful reptiles known, Ball Pythons.
This kind of crime can’t be tolerated. If it happened here, it could happen anywhere. Snakes are a difficult piece of property to track. Once stolen there are many, many ways the thief can profit from them. To compound matters, law enforcement does not have the resources needed to properly investigate these crimes. As most of you know, insurance companies WILL NOT cover reptile losses.
I hope that a strong financial reward will bring people forward. I would like to think that morals would be all that is needed but unfortunately it is cash that drives many people. In addition, I think we have a much better chance of getting news coverage if there is a country-wide outrage. (backed up with some pledges for cash) If there is a significant reward offered by the people of this industry I believe we can really get some attention on this case. There are people who know about this crime, many of whom are probably not even into reptiles. This person has friends, roommates, parents, neighbors, etc. If we can get the word out to all the surrounding communities, I think we might be able to find someone with enough integrity to come forward.
This story can have a lot of human interest as well. The rest of the population looks down on reptiles and seeks to make laws against them. We have an opportunity to put a human face to this hobby, and to let people know we are loving, caring and responsible members of society.
Again, thank you all so much for all your support. It has made all the difference in this very difficult time. I hope I can get my snakes back, hatch some beautiful babies and treat you all to a big party in Daytona!
A special thanks to Dan and Colette Sutherland for organizing this and using space on their web site. My wife and I will be grateful for everyone’s effort, whatever the outcome.
Thank you,
Jeff & Rachel Houston

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