Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What's everyone's opinon on this?

http://www.click2houston.com/news/15062162/detail.html

Total B.S. in my opinion.
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Todd Hughes

>>What's everyone's opinon on this?
>>
>>
>>http://www.click2houston.com/news/15062162/detail.html

Cruelty to animals? Danger to the public? Man some people can stretch statues tp make them fit anything!
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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

My first thought is it is probably a little cold in January to be walking your snake in LI.

My second is that at the very least it would be distracting to passing motorists and should one of them have a serious snake phobia and flip out it might well be dangerous to everyone around.

My third thought is that anyone stupid enough to parade around with a 14 foot python wrapped around himself is probably too stupid to properly take care of said snake.

And my 4th thought is that every time someone does something silly like this it's another nail in the coffin of everyone who maintains exotic animals in a safe and responsible manner.

Peter
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Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles

The nails are already in the coffin in N.Y. you can't own burms in N.y. with out a permit so this guy is the walking dead. Not to mention a complete idiot on many different levels. while I disagree with the laws, I do think stupidity should be painful.

How do you know his car didn't break down on the fwy & he was walking home? If this guy was just stupid, so what, why is just because something like this happens laws start to change. Don't blame this guy, cause one in a while stupid things like this do happen, no one is perfect. People with the snake fobias are the reason. They just don't want us to have them PERIOD

Well, I have a mixed bag of thoughts about this one. My wife and I were discussing it when we saw the segment on the national news.

First of all, the guy is a bonafide idiot...the kind of idiot that this hobby does not need the likes of. It is people doing this kind of stuff that gives our enemies out there more and more ammo to shoot at us with.

Secondly, stretching the laws to charge this idiot with cruelty to animals and endangering the public is likewise a bit on the idiotic side. If a person could be criminally charged with being an idiot, then that would have been a more appropriate charge.

Third, I really began to understand the logic behind this whole idiotic episode when I read who it was that called the police..."an 'officer' for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals"....yet another idiot.

Overall, I see it as being an unfortunate idiotic lose-lose situation for everybody.

Just my 2 centavos worth.
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Gerald Keown
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research
www.southwesternherp.com

Cops are going to charge him with anything they think they can convince a jury to believe, no matter how ridiculous it may sound. How is endangering the public while on the freeway? Did a civilian walk pass him while on the freeway? come on now!

If he was vehicle transporting an animal in winter in NY and he had no way to deal with the possibility of a breakdown, no insulated container or heat source, no help and no way to contact anyone for some. That is stupid. You dont just throw a 14 foot python in the rear seat of your Mazda and motor off for glory. Unless you are stupid. Do you think that that sounds like sound animal husbandry? If you take a reptile outside in January is that good for the animal? Or is that stupid? If you can't realise (or just don't care) that there are MANY people who are terrified of snakes to the point where they absolutely can't stand to see them and that the sight of you parading down the road carrying one the size of a firehose might cause some amount of public alarm and disturbance, then you are stupid. If you are not able to realize (or again, just don't care) that YOUR actions reflect on everyone else who maintains reptiles in captivity. Then you are stupid. Stupid is as stupid does. Does any of that sound like something you would do?

Without going and reading the exact statues he was charged under I would say that exposing an exothermic animal to January weather and carrying it in the open down a public street sounds pretty much like an excellant example of animal cruelty and failure to protect the public and his arrest/citing like exactly how those statues ought to be interperated and applied. I just hope the poor snake ends up with someone not too stupid to give it some decent care.

Peter
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Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles

First of all you have no idea of the details in this situation to be passing judgement on anyone. Second, Only stupid people like you would rush to judgement without any information whatsoever & Thirs, you don't me man, so what who the @#$$ your callin stupid, you idiot.

You don't know me man. Who the @@#$# are you callin stupid, you idiot.

Well, seem to have touched a nerve there...I must have missed the part where I called you stupid. Unless your the one who did all the above? Or you think any of it is acceptable behavior? You're right that I don't know the whole story but I imagine the officer at the scene did when he made his decision to arrest that individual.

Is it possible that we might keep this above playground level? If we are just going to call names I'll take my toys and go home.

Peter
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Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles

I think your playmate needs to go home and take his meds. He's making me look normal and that's bad...I mean I AM the mad axe man.

First of all jrsnakes, I don't know you, but you seem like an idiot. Go back and read youer own posts, you can't even spell words correctly! I DO know Peter and he has probably FORGOTTEN more about snakes than you.
The man broke the law and was charged thusly. Understand that moron? Now be nice and don't make MadAxeMan mad! LOL!

Randal Berry

that really pisses me off...beyond belief snakes are not the man eaters that everyone seems to think they are...you are way more likely to be attacked by a dog than a snake and how many dogs do you see on the streets? but the second someone takes out a snake he gets arrested for endangering the public? that is total $&%^(#* (pardon my language im just really ticked off)

I agree, I think stories like this piss a lot of us off. From what we know (and you know how aweful the media is at getting facts right) there is no just reason for these charges, except for maybe the fact that it was on a highway, and most highways that I know of do not allow pedestrian travel. But do you really think if you replaced "snake" with "dog" that he would of been charged? I try to tell people that their black lab is more dangerous then my corn snake, and they're like "oh no, my precious little boy wouldn't hurt a fly, but that discusting snake will sneak into your bed at night and strangle you!" They just refuse to see reality. Now, while we should be able to take our pets where ever pets are allowed, just like dog owners, unfortunately we're not to that point yet. I don't agree with some of the previous posts here that call the guy an idiot, especially without even knowing the facts in the case. And while I, for the most part, understand their mentality about snake keeping, I don't agree with a lot of it and also think they can be just as detrimental to the hobby as stories like this are. When I moved into my house and met my neighbors, I told them right off about our pet collection. Of course, they all seemed intellegent, and none had a problem with it. Now, there are a few around me that I don't think I would disclose that info to, at least right off, but we really shouldn't feel like we need to hide our passion. When you become secretive about it, to the public it seems like your hiding something, and if your hiding something they automaticly see it as you must be doing something wrong.
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-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay) RIP
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Poseidon)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (Athena)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa

exactly!
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Todd Hughes

I am not suggesting that we be secretative. What I am saying is that we have to act in a responsible manner. Part of this is realizing that many people are extremely phobic about reptiles, especially snakes. You have to realize that people like this exist and you cannot go about expecting them to accept the fact that your reptile is harmless. Not that a 14 foot python is harmless, especially when in the hands of one person. Several snake keepers have unfortunatly learned this to their sorrow. If we want to maintain the right to maintain these animals we have to realise that responsibility comes with it. Attempting to overcome phobia with education is good. Shocking people with their worst nightmare strolling down the road is bad.

It is stupid in that it is counterproductive to keeping our privilege to maintain animals and it is stupid in that it could easily lead to someone causing a traffic accident in the above instance. It is stupid in that it is inherently dangerous for a single person to attempt to handle a large constrictor alone. If as someone poiinted out earlier, it is already illegal to keep Burmese in that jurisdiction, its pretty stupid to walk around in public violating the law in plain sight. Cops have to notice things like that even if they would rather not.

And again I have to point out that its January and pythons hadn't ought to be being carried around outside in the cold. I find it somewhat depressing that none of you who think the arrest is out of line seem to think this is unacceptable or "cruel" or even stupid. I see the same thing time time after time at reptile shows where animal owners are parading around with animals exposed to dangerously cold or hot tempertures with never a thought for the animals comfort or health. I have had people show me animals which were icy cold through lack of being properly transported. Now, that is either stupid or deliberatly cruel, take your choice.

Anyway, I am probably as stupid as anyone else since I still seem to think I can make some headway by pushing a rope. I will shut up now.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Randall...:-. A few of us old fogeys still around anyway.

Peter
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Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles

first off, we just don't know WHY he was carrying it down the road...the article doesn't mention anything about a vehicle, or even if he lives in the city or not (you don't know anything about him, other than he has a snake). I would think Jan. is too cold, but at the same time if you watch the video of that snake, you can clearly see it is very healthy, and obviously very calm and friendly, so I wouldn't be so quick to accuse him a cruelty, cause he does seem to know what he's doing. You can't go around and accusing people of cruelty when you don't know anything about them...you sound like PETA and HSUS when you start doing that.
I agree that people who do things just to get attention or to get shock value can hurt the hobby, but I don't think we should have to hide our passion and love for these animals just because of ignorance amoungst the general public.
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-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amel. corn snake (Morgan LaFay) RIP
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Athena, for now)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (maybe Octavian)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)
2.0 rats

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa (maybe Hannibel)
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa (affectionately called
Snuggles)

Or it might just be too cold to move.... Friendly isn't a descriptor I ever thought of attaching to a snake but than I already admitted I was as stupid as every one else.

What difference would it make as to why he was walking down the road? No matter the reason one would still need to have the critter contained somehow if you had any sense.

Anyway, if he has been the victim of poleece harassment he will no doubt be found innocent and might even win a big settlement that could then be used to buy a cooler with wheels that he can roll his snake around in.

Peter
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Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles

well like I said, there's no reason to put him down without knowing the whole story...for all we know, he could of just stolen the snake from someone and was heading out to sell it on the streets...we just don't know, and I like to refrain from judging until the facts are out. But I do think you can tell a lot about how someone has cared for a snake by it's temperament...snakes that are not well kept or worked with will often be aggressive, and vice versa. But who knows, maybe the place in the video is that cold and the snake is frozen.
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-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amel. corn snake (Morgan LaFay) RIP
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Athena, for now)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (maybe Octavian)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)
2.0 rats

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa (maybe Hannibel)
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa (affectionately called
Snuggles)