One dude abandons a bunch of boas and all of a sudden it's all over the news... I've seen this multiple places but this article is the longest one.
The disturbing part is the call for more laws because of the incident and it's my understanding that it's already pretty difficult to legally own boas in that area.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050924/NEWS01/509240316/1001/NEWS
Capture of exotic snakes worries animal experts
SPCA shelter in Stanton received five boa constrictors
in less than a week
BY ROBIN BROWN / The News Journal
09/24/2005In less than a week, five constrictor snakes
have arrived at the animal shelter in Stanton. That's
got the director worried, hoping the snakes are an
exception and not the start of a bad boa boom.
Experts say reptiles have grown as popular and
mainstream as tropical fish among hobbyists who are
well-educated and responsible -- but the situation at
the shelter shows what can happen when snakes slither
into the wrong hands.
"There is a very large pet trade in reptiles and
amphibians," said Jim White, considered Delaware's top
snake expert. "It's huge."
He and other reptile experts hope the sudden surge of
boas is a rare exception and not a growing trend.
John Caldwell, longtime director of the Delaware
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said
the agency has housed more than five snakes at a time,
on rare occasions. "But never five boa constrictors
that I can remember," he said.
The strong-bodied snakes, known for their ability to
squeeze the life out of their prey, are not good pets
-- and without permits, owning them is illegal in
Delaware, Caldwell said.
An 8-foot Argentina boa and three 4- to 6-foot boas
were found abandoned Sept. 16 at William Penn Village
Apartments near New Castle after a tenant's eviction.
(A cat found there also was taken to the shelter.)
But it was an odd phone call Monday that brought the
last of the five boas to the SPCA.
Wilmington police called the SPCA after officers
stopped a man walking in the 400 block of S. Van Buren
St. with the snake around his neck. That snake, about
5 feet long, was seized when the young man said he did
not have a permit to own it.
Beyond the Delaware Department of Agriculture permits
required to keep boas anywhere in the state, New
Castle County bans exotic reptiles in residential
areas. Common reptiles -- such as iguanas, geckos,
chameleons and others often sold at pet shops -- are
allowed.
Caldwell said he thinks there should be another law.
He said that law should ban snake owners from selling
to anyone without a permit.
He said that would ensure that snakes were bought only
by qualified, permit-holding care-takers, such as
zoos, wildlife centers and animal professionals
working in educational contexts, such as Delaware's
well-known children's educator-entertainer "Jungle"
John LaMedica.
LaMedica, who lives near Newark, is one of fewer than
100 New Castle County residents who have reptile
permits. After a Stanton man was found dead in his
home among numerous illegal snakes a few years ago, an
ordinance was enacted to restrict snakes in
residential areas and stop new permits. LaMedica was
among the dwindling number of people who already had
permits and were "grandfathered."
"The joke is, it's easier to get a gun permit in New
Castle County than it is to get a reptile permit," he
said.
LaMedica said the Stanton man who prompted the county
ban was an uncommonly poor caretaker of snakes, as
were the former owners of the boas now at the SPCA.
The young man who police found walking with his snake
around his neck had been thrown out of his house,
along with his two dogs, after his mother grew sick of
his failure to care for them properly, LaMedica said.
The New Castle apartment tenant clearly was
irresponsible if he would leave animals behind when
evicted, he said.
Growing in popularity
LaMedica, who visited the SPCA and examined the boas,
shares Caldwell's concern about the possibility of a
trend in illegal snakes, which he said could damage
the hobby.
Keeping reptiles has become as popular and mainstream
a family hobby in recent years as keeping tropical
fish, LaMedica said. The Internet made information
about reptiles easily accessible, and hobbyists now
can enjoy thousands of Web sites, newsletters and chat
rooms, as well as resulting clubs and magazines.
"In the '70s, when I started keeping reptiles, there
was nothing," he said.
Wanting to share the positive side of reptiles, he
graduated from zookeeping school in Florida, worked at
Brandywine Zoo, then went into the snake business
nearly 20 years ago. "Every state has educators
similar to me," he said.
But state laws vary and the public rarely is educated
in reptile law, he said. For example, he said, few
people know Delaware requires permits for all
non-native snakes, and few know that venomous ones --
like those found with the Stanton man -- already were
banned.
"People have no clue that there's a law at all," he
said.
And -- as with pythons, pit bulls or any kind of
creature -- there is a percentage of impulse buyers
and people who do not understand, or are unable to
meet, the animals' care and feeding needs.
'Wild animals'
The SPCA shelter rarely gets even one boa a year,
Caldwell said. Five at once raised his eyebrow toward
a trend he hopes to quash.
"These are wild animals, zoo animals," he said. "I
don't understand why people have them. It's totally
mind-baffling."
Experts caution would-be owners not to get snakes
simply because they are fascinating -- and available.
White, of the Delaware Nature Society, said all kinds
of reptiles and amphibians are sold at shows in
Maryland and Pennsylvania: "You could buy a
rattlesnake if you wanted," White said. Sellers at
such shows do not ensure buyers' ownership will be
legal in their home states.
"You buy it," he said, "but wherever you live, you
have to abide by the law. A lot of people don't know
that."
White said snakes' unique limblessness naturally fuels
people's fascination and desire to own them. But he
warned that any buyer should know applicable laws or
risk losing animals they should not have to start
with.
The seized and abandoned boas at the nonprofit SPCA
shelter are not up for adoption, Caldwell said. The
SPCA plans to place them in appropriate environments
with experts who have permits to care for them.
At the SPCA, the boas have their own enclave. Away
from the adoptable cats and dogs, they slink in
aquariums and cages, warmed by sunlamps, on a diet of
live rodents.
Not that Caldwell minds his uncommon guests. But he is
a man more used to canines and felines.
He hopes not to see the snake colony grow and said,
"This is such an unusual sight."
Contact robin brown at 324-2856 or
rbrown@delawareonline.com.
Abandoned Boas in Delaware
