TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT (Florida) 31 October 13 Man charged after shooting snake (Karl Etters)
After allegedly posting a video to a social media site of himself harassing and shooting a pygmy rattlesnake on a Leon County roadside, a Tallahassee man faces charges of possessing or capturing a venomous reptile without a permit and discharging a firearm across a public roadway.
According to the weekly Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission law enforcement report for Oct. 25, in mid-September, Ward Lee Waff “taunted the pygmy rattlesnake continuously … kicked the snake into the roadway, attempting to get a car to run over the snake,” and then shot it repeatedly with a .22 caliber rifle, sending it flying off the roadway.
In the video, Waff, 45, asks the snake if it would “bite one of my dogs. Would you bite one of my children?” before capturing it and holding it before a number of braying dogs in the back of a truck. He can be heard laughing as he torments the reptile.
The video can be seen here: http://bit.ly/HrUuBh. (WARNING: The video contains mild profanity, images of animal cruelty and shows the discharge of a weapon.)
In the report, Waff is described as having a criminal history with FWC and is “currently on probation for fish and wildlife violations that were committed in the past.”
Waff was arrested in Leon County in April on a warrant issued in Taylor County for hunting with a rifle in an enclosed area.
FWC Officer Chris Jones interviewed Waff and obtained a confession, then took the case to the State Attorney’s Office, which is pursuing the charges, according to an FWC report.
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