NASHOBA PUBLISHING (Massachusetts) 05 December 08 Police seek snake ex-owner (Lisa Redmond)
Manchester, N.H.: Shirley police want to speak to the former owner of an 8-foot-long Brazilian boa constrictor that was left out in the cold in a Shirley park and would have died.
The boa now has a warm, temporary home at Petland in Manchester, N.H., thanks to the store's manager, William Sturgeon, who agreed to pick up the snake when he got the call in October.
But the snake's former owner, David Cunningham, whose last known address was 26 Fredonian St., Shirley, is in some legal hot water.
Shirley police Chief Paul Thibodeau said they identified Cunningham as the owner through a flier in a pizza shop with the snake's photo. The flier said the snake needed a new home and offered to sell it cheap.
"He's the only one we know of that had an 8-foot Brazilian boa constrictor," Thibodeau said. "(The flier) made it easy."
Instead of finding a new home for the pet snake, police say they found the reptile out in the cold at the Fredonian Street park. The snake was easy to catch, Thibodeau said because it was slow from the cold. The snake wouldn't have lasted long outside as the days and nights grew colder, he said. Police have animal cruelty charges pending against Cunningham if they can find him, Thibodeau said.
Sturgeon, who owns snakes himself including a python, agreed to pick it up the constrictor.
"We found a guy who would take the snake. I don't know why he (Cunningham) couldn't," Thibodeau said. "He just dumped him."
The constrictor is up for sale at Sturgeon's shop for $200, to cover his expenses. While it shouldn't be around small children unattended, its diet of large rats will keep someone's rodent population down.
Police seek snake ex-owner