POST-DISPATCH (St Louis, Missouri) 19 May 04 28 poisonous snakes are seized from 3

State officials on Monday seized 28 venomous snakes alleged to be illegally in the possession of three men in south St. Louis County who were selling the animals from a pet shop and their home.

The Missouri Department of Conservation had investigated the group for about two weeks.

Regional supervisor Chris Morrow said an undercover conservation agent sold a snake to the pet store owner and then another agent bought it the next day.

On Monday, an acquaintance of the pet store owner sold nine more snakes to another undercover agent from his home. The snakes were various cottonmouths, copperheads and rattlesnakes, including the endangered pigmy rattlesnake and Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake.

State law requires a class 2 dealer's license to possess Missouri-native venomous snakes. The snakes must be bought from another licensed vendor. They may not be caught in the wild, as the seized snakes were, Morrow said.

The snakes had received proper care, Morrow said.

The three men, whom authorities declined to identify, were issued state summonses for possessing the snakes without a proper license, possessing endangered species and other charges. Agents may present the case to the St. Louis County prosecutor for more charges.

The snakes will be held at the St. Louis Zoo and other zoological centers until the case is closed. They will not be released into the wild.
28 poisonous snakes are seized from 3

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