SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia) 20 November 06 Vic man convicted for keeping pythons
A man has been convicted and fined $1,500 for illegally keeping two exotic pythons at a property at Colac, near Geelong.
The two Burmese pythons, each more than three metres long, were the largest snakes seized in Victoria in recent years, wildlife authorities said.
Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) wildlife officers seized the exotic reptiles from a property at Colac on June 9.
Adam Zachary Milne, 30, faced Geelong Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to charges of illegally keeping a scheduled pest animal.
While the DSE issues wildlife licences in Victoria for the keeping of native snakes, exotic snakes are banned in Australia under state and federal laws.
Wildlife authorities said the larger snake weighed about 45 kilograms and was capable of swallowing an adult human, while the smaller one weighed 20 kilograms and could swallow a small child.
Prosecutor Geoff Morsby said Burmese pythons posed a serious disease risk to native python populations, who had no resistance to a fatal virus they commonly carried.
Milne had no prior convictions and the pythons were euthanased for public safety.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Vic-man-convicted-for-keeping-pythons/2006/11/20/1163871340714.html
