EVENING TELEGRAPH (Peterborough, UK) 21 February 08 Call for action after dead snakes found (Jonny Muir)
Horrified council workers discovered two dead snakes among the rubbish at a Peterborough recycling site.
The 6ft pythons had been abandoned in a cardboard box by the recycling bank at Serpentine Green shopping centre, in Hampton Hargate.
Today, Peterborough City Council's cabinet member for environment and community safety councillor Graham Murphy described the cruelty as "deplorable".
He said: "I have never known such distasteful, moronic behaviour in all my days. I just don't know why someone would do this."
The discovery of the pythons comes 15 months after council refuse workers made the grisly find of a dead puppy, which had been dumped in a household recycling bin.
Cllr Murphy has challenged the RSPCA to bring the people who are responsible to book.
He said: "We have called in the RSPCA and I hope inspectors can trace the person responsible and take appropriate action.
"We suspect these snakes were dead before they were abandoned but they would not have lived long in the intense cold that has been experienced over recent days.
"Whatever caused the deaths of these snakes, the owner needs to recognise that simply dumping the bodies in this way is not appropriate. It could have caused considerable distress if a mother with young children or an elderly person had found them while using the bottle bank for its legitimate purpose."
The snakes were discovered at 9.30am on Tuesday, when the council's city services team went to empty the Serpentine Green bottle bank.
An RSPCA spokesperson said: "It is extremely sad to see amazing creatures like these pythons being dumped, lifeless, in the rubbish.
"Unfortunately, we come across a lot of animals being dumped when they are no longer wanted. With snakes, it could be that the owner could no longer look after them, or didn't realise how big they would grow when they first bought them.
"We would always advise getting advice when buying a pet, or getting help if a pet can no longer be looked after. There are better options than dumping them.
"We would very much like to find out how these snakes came to be here, so if anyone has information please could they call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999."
Call for action after dead snakes found