PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL (Florida) 15 August 06 Reptiles on the mend - Zoo caring for hurting creatures (Louis Cooper)
A Milton man was in jail Monday and faces multiple animal cruelty charges after officials found 35 dead and rotting reptiles and dozens more malnourished and dehydrated in his camper.
Craig Thomas Zoodsma, 50, is charged with 35 felonies in the animals' deaths and 41 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty -- one each for 35 snakes, three lizards and three turtles still living but starving and badly dehydrated.
Bond was set at $55,000 Monday, but Zoodsma still was in Santa Rosa County Jail late Monday. He could face additional charges after a plastic tub with three living and two dead turtles in badly contaminated water was discovered Monday.
The Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office responded about 5 p.m. Saturday to West Dig Construction on Avalon Boulevard, where a coworker reported that Zoodsma had a 20-foot camping trailer filled with snakes and cats behind the business.
Zoodsma is a foreman at the construction company and listed the company's address as his home on the arrest report.
The responding deputy reported a stench of dead animals as he approached the camper, and he could see three cats through a glass door and numerous aquariums holding snakes. He called Santa Rosa County Animal Services for assistance.
Coincidentally, Animal Services was conducting a training seminar, led by the Humane Society of the United States. A team, including personnel from Animal Services, the Humane Society and The Zoo, including a veterinarian, was dispatched to the scene.
"The smell of death was the first thing that caught my attention," said Marie Carter, an animal control officer who responded. "The conditions where these animals were was unbelievable to me."
Those who entered the trailer donned hazardous materials suits.
The camper had no ventilation or electricity. Dried snake and rodent carcasses littered the floor while the barely living snakes were contained in aquariums and in drawers of plastic cabinets.
One cage included three live bearded dragon lizards and a dead one.
The cats -- one of which is pregnant -- seemed to be in good condition, Carter said, as were three dogs kept outside.
In all, 34 snakes -- mostly species of python and boa -- and one lizard were found dead Saturday, along with the two dead, red-eared slider turtles brought in Monday.
The Zoo Northwest Florida is caring for the surviving animals. Diane Norris, director for animal care at The Zoo, said the animals are in terrible condition.
"It wasn't like he hadn't fed them in a week," said Norris, who was among those responding to the scene. "Some of the remains were disintegrating. They had obviously been there a long time."
The largest snake that survived was a 10-foot-long reticulated python, which is recovering from malnutrition, dehydration and an infection.
"That snake should be about 40 to 50 pounds," Norris said. "This snake is just skin and bones. He weighed only 14 pounds when we got him."
The dogs and cats were taken to the county animal shelter in Milton.
According to the arrest report, Zoodsma drove up to the scene while investigators were there. He told them he had known about some of the dead animals for at least two weeks, but was too busy to do anything about them. He claimed to have visited them every day.
Reptiles on the mend