Hello Fellow Herpers! I am emailing today to tell my story.

Over a month ago I got a knock on my door. I opened the door their stood a police officer with papers in his hand. My heart went into my throat as I signed for the papers. As I opened the document I see that I was being charged in violation of a city ordinance. The city ordinance bans the possession of “harmful reptiles”.

The first thing I did was contact a lawyer. The lawyer is also a friend that I went to school. I explain the situation and he placed a call to the City/County Building. He was told that neihbors complained about the safety of their children. A lot of thoughts went through my mind….I have never allowed anyone in my house in the town I live in. I never talk to my neighbors about my hobby? No one knows??? How can they say they are harmful when they do not know what I have???

Next, I was advised to get rid of my animals right away or move. I spoke with my wife and at the time we are NOT in a position to move. I was forced to sell most of my animals (breeders) with the advice of my lawyer and WIFE. My lawyer wanted to make sure that most of large boas were not present in case they were able to come into my house. I took almost all the other yearlings and babies to my brothers until this summer when I was planning on moving. I ACTED WAY TOO FAST!

Finally, I had 2 court appearances in the past month. The big one was today. The judge asked some questions about my animals. How they were caged? How big are they? Venomous? His decision today was to throw out the case!

Right now I am the happiest guy in the world. The last month or so has been the most stressful time of my life. I just want to thank those who have emailed or called and gave support!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also want to thank Pete Kahl for the good advice!

I still have a lot of questions about the situation. Who is worried about my boas eating their kids? Did they think I had venomous? How did they know what pets I even have??? Did they see my website and speculate that I had 25’ snakes? Right now I am happy that it is over but I am not too happy with the legal system. I can’t accuse a neighbor of selling drugs with out proof – how can they subpoena me to court on accusations?????

Well it is all over and I have had some good luck in the past few days. Posted is a litter that I had on 5/31/05. The man upstairs works in mysterious ways! Too bad the mom and dad which are still in my possession have been sold during this court process.

Thanks for all the support!

Robert Baker


Baker's Boas

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