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MUSKEGON CHRONICLE (Michigan) 18 August 08 Trooper shoots aggressive python in Ottawa County (Terry Judd)
Photo at URL below: Trooper William Coon holds a Burmese Python that he was forced to kill Monday after it attacked a pickup truck on 156th Avenue in Ottawa County. (Michigan State Police)
Brian Ahlin thought he saw a large stick in the middle of 156th Avenue in Ottawa County Monday morning until it reared up and started attacking the side of his pickup.
"I was driving to my home on Polk Street and saw this SUV on the side of the road and I what I thought was a stick in the road," he said. "But as I got closer I said, 'That ain't no stick.' And then as I got closer I realized, 'Shoot, that's snake.' Then I got even closer and I thought 'That's a python!' Then, it started attacking the truck."
Ahlin said he was glad to be surrounded by his 5,000-pound 2004 Chevrolet Silverado pickup as the python repeated lunged into the driver's side with its jaws wide open. Ahlin said he was concerned his 50-pound dog would jump out the window and suddenly "become a snack for that snake."
"I'll tell you, this snake was big enough it could have swallowed a kid," he said. "I mean the girth on that thing was huge."
Ahlin concluded he needed to do something and his Silverado, built like a rock, was up for the job. He put the truck in gear and repeatedly ran over the snake.
"I must have run over him 10 times and it didn't do anything," he said. "It was like running over a piece of rubber. He kept bouncing back with his jaws wide open. Let's just say, I wasn't going to stick my head out."
Tom Moore of West Olive, the driver of the SUV on the side of the road, witnessed the snake attack and called 9-1-1. State Police Trooper William Coon of the Grand Haven Post was dispatch. When Coon arrived, he found a 7-foot-long python lunging at anything that moved, including himself.
"It's jaws were really wide open and he came after me," Coon said. "Even after being run over, it was still lunging."
Coon said he had no choice but to kill the snake. It took three bullets, including one to the head.
"In the eight years I have been a trooper, I've never responded to an animal complaint like this one," he said.
Coon said a Holland pet shop identified the snake as Burmese Python, which is found in Southeast Asia but are bred in the United States as pets. These snakes are capable of growing to more than 20 feet in length and up to 200 pounds.
According to several Internet sites, there is a national problem with owners "dumping" their snakes once they grow to seven-15 feet. At that length, the snakes require eating rabbits several times a month, can produce as much waste as a horse and are extremely difficult to handle.
Coon speculates the python killed in West Olive was a pet that either escaped from its cage or was deliberately released by its owner tired of caring for such a large creature.
However the snake ended up in West Olive, Ahlin believes it was a real danger to children and dogs.
"Something dangerous like that with kids around? Well, we just could not have something like that. I just did not want that thing getting out in the woods."

Trooper shoots aggressive python in Ottawa County

in quotes like that. That certainly is an enormous, child eating burmese python!
By the way, if someone ran over me with a truck, I'd be pretty upset too.

Poor boa..
jb
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Jonathan Brady
*You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.*

i do have to say i looked at the pic of this python sure looks alot like a boa or am i wrong

The proud. The brave. The few.
And they wonder what's wrong with America!
Ignorance is contagious.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Looks like the Burmese Python has already made it to Michigan!
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I did write the editor, by the way.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I hate to but I have to ask just who are you and why do you alwayws post these articles which are often inaccurate and shed a negative light on the hobby.
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Randy Whittington

He's just keeping us informed on the actions of others. I for one am grateful for the insight. Keep them coming.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Dear Mr. Whittington;
In regards to your query above ...

>>I hate to but I have to ask just who are you

Your question is valid and one that I’ve been challenged with before on other forums.
Basically, I’m your (overgrown) paperboy. I collect a variety of herp-related press items from multiple sources and then post them with accreditation to where I think they can be most educational. The idea being, to spread ‘awareness’ of what the popular press is saying about our favourite critters.

>> why do you always post these articles which are often inaccurate and shed a negative light on the hobby?

Well, after doing this since about 1994 (since about 2003 on Kingsnake.com), I’ve discovered that there is a significant dearth of ‘good news’ items about large snakes, iguanas, crocodilians or anything venomous. I can only post what is produced.
As for accuracy … you’re correct that a lot of items have significant errors within them. But in my modest experience with the 12,000 press items in my herp-press archives, most journalists do try to ‘get the story straight’ … but lack the background knowledge so basic to forums such as this to even know that they are making a mistake (Who here looks something up if they ‘know’ it to be true?) Yes, there are some phobic reporters – or some plain sloppy ones – but for the most part, their intentions to ‘report accurately’ are good (if somewhat over-the-top at times).

The 'bad-herp' press items are already out there … posting them here in a specialist herper forum does no damage to the hobby. In fact, it is my modest hope that quite the opposite happens! By posting a press item here – good or bad (granted, mostly bad in tone), it’s my hope that the experienced among you can write a passionate but well mannered and most importantly knowledgable, correction to the press piece to the paper concerned. And while any rebuttal of yours may not undue any great damage done by a particularly bad item, your printed correction may affect a few readers to change their mind, or at the very least, educate a reporter in the error of his work.

To reiterate, the stories are already out in the public forum, for good or bad! I post them in the specialist forums so that herpers can see what is being done to or said about herps in a particular area … and possible, hopefully go someway in containing the damage. Our herp-group ignorance of what is going on out there does not, in my modest opinion, help our educational cause.

And last, as for all the ‘negative’ stories … if you can find me a ‘feel-good’ one about Buffy the Blond Boa or Cuddles the Caiman saving a four year old child from a neighbour’s feral-outdoor tomcat … I’ll make sure it gets posted.

Your peers that have bearded dragons or dart frogs do get good and supportive press, but I’m a feared that the ‘boid’ breeders, monitor-people and croc-keepers are going to continue to take it on the chin from an unsympathetic press for some time in the future. Drama sells papers – and some of our charges don’t exactly make the cuddly-critter cut.

Be aware of what is being said about your hobby elsewhere, and intelligently respond to it. Just make sure that your response is better researched than the original press piece.

I hope and trust that I've answered your query.

Cheers and respects,
Wes von Papineäu

I would like to personally thank you for your diligence, trouble, and time you take of your own volition to post these stories for us to read. The stories even though weird and mostly untrue are very interesting to peruse. You are doing the herp community a great service and I just wanted to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH.......TC

I feel the need to defend you in this Mr Wes von Papineäu. I believe your doing the Herp community a great service by pointing out these articles about Reptiles. This is educational for all of us in the Herp community to see how the press portrays are beloved animals ,mostly in bad light of course. Its our job as a community "Herp community" to educate the rest of the country / world about our animals. So these false and / or inaccurate stories will not be published. What would be Even better is if there was nothing for them to report inaccurately on. That's too much to ask for I think though. Keep up the great work so we can move to educate the public and correct the inaccuracies.
. . . . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

Wes,

You sir are doing a great service to the Herp community in posting these news reports. I have followed them for years as you posted them and many times they really motivate me to take a little action here and there. At the least, by your postings we are aware of how the media views reptiles which in turn allows us to know what we are up against.

Thank you very much for taking your time to do this!!!

John Manser

Thank you. I was just curious as to which side of the fence you are on. It just bothers me when I see how inaccurate many articles are which I'm sure you understand. I now understand you mean it in a positive way.
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Randy Whittington

First off, as I'm reading this I think they're talking about a huge 20 foot snake or something. They sound so terrified I wonder how they'd react if they actually found one that size. They would probably die of a heart attack! And second of all, a pet store told them it was a burmese? What the hell kind of pet store is that!? Most pet stores at least know a python from a boa! And if they did all that internet research, didn't they come across pictures and think 'hey, this snake doesn't look like the one we killed.' And third, the guy in the truck was saying he was afraid of the snake eating his dog because the girth of the snake was huge. It's like two inches! I guess nobody up there has seen a 'real' big snake. It's unfortunate how truly ignorant people are about these creatures.

Jessica

Seriously, I think you're right, they'd die on the spot if they even saw a 20fter, let alone had to fight one off with a truck and bullets! LOL!
I wonder in these situations, what would those big tough guys think if I had been there and walked right up, taken ahold of the boa, reassured them, and walked off with it??? I have males that big!! I have females that are around 10 feet and as thick as my thigh! Before that snake had been mortally wounded, (ie- ran over and then shot) it probably would have been easy to restrain, even by a smaller statured young gal like myself.
The half-cocked way these folks dealt with this boa disappoints me. I would think even an officer would know to call animal control first thing and use the gun as a last resort. However, he probably thought it could be venemous! ;p Even my boyfriend, who is not a boa fanatic like myself, looked over my shoulder and was shocked at the article. "That's a boa isn't it?" I was very proud of him, being able to tell from a little picture that it was NOT a burmese python... so what is a petstore doing NOT knowing that I wonder... wonders never cease! LOL!
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Steph S.
Boas...
1.1 Albino boas (Loki & Hope)
1.4 07 Het. albino boas (Petty & Lady,Sierra,Madeline,Lola)
0.1 Reverse stripe poss. het albino (Cookie)
0.1 Salmon/hypo (Scarlet)
0.1 Anery poss. het snow (Missy)
1.0 Anery (Reno)
1.0 Probable Super Salmontine(Kahn)
0.1 DH Sunglow (Bonnie)
1.1.1 Hypo het anery
1.0.1 Het. Anery (Guy & ?)
0.3 Normals (Ophelia, Sasha, & Lulu)
1.0 Surinames (Solomon & Surreal(deceased)
1.3 Hog Isles (Mr.Orange & Peaches, Tang.)
0.0.1 Central American (Sassy)
0.1 Emerald Tree boa (Jade)
1.0 ATB (Satan... seriously!)
Pythons...
2.1 GTPs (B., Monty & Jewel)
0.0.3 BPs (MJ, Precious, Houdini)
1.1 Carpet Pythons (Jackson & Charlotte)
0.1 Blood python (Akaia)
Misc.
1.1 Mandarin Ratsnakes (Jack & Jill)
1.0 Boxer/Pitt Mutt (Tyson)

Incompetence! Its spreading! Must of been following one of zero tolerance policies that are all the rage these days. More like zero brain function.

"Python" right. That's a Boa constrictor and not that big. This "Trooper" made it sound like this snake was as big around as his waist or something. He just wanted an excuse to fire his weapon. Any of us on this forum could've easily caught this little Boa. This poor little Boa,that's why it was mad at the vehicles ,they ran it over. That's just really sad ! This Trooper really over reacted with this "Python". So much inaccurate press and ignorance. What's even sadder is the fact that the Boa was even crawling around loose !
. . . . . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

Thats sad they ran it over and over again,they sure pumped that story up. We have Blue racers and Black Rat snakes bigger then that up here. I would like to see that Video clip they have on there trucks. I highly doubt that it was tring to attack that truck. It wouldn't be to hard to find the Owner of the Boa ,and find out what happened.

Van
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Forever Trust in what we are,and nothing else Matters