Hey Y’all Animal Cruelty Warning
I don’t normally do this, but I just found out about something that has my blood boiling. I’ve been a pet owner my whole life—dogs, cats, and more—and have always considered pets to be family. Yes, even the fish I won at a fair; yes, even my chickens; yes, even the snakes.
Snakes can be a controversial pet—a lot of folks find them creepy. That’s perfectly fine, not everyone has to like the same thing. Some states have made owning certain snakes illegal; that’s also fine, assuming they’re doing so for the right reasons and handle it appropriately.
Then there’s Florida. In 2021, it became illegal to own reticulated and Burmese pythons in the state of Florida. This is because of an issue with them acting as an invasive species; due mostly to hurricanes, pet snakes in the wild became feral and were able to breed, resulting in native reptiles struggling to compete and occasionally becoming prey to the pythons.
That still leads to the trouble of persons who had owned pythons legally prior to 2021. Persons who legally owned these snakes before the ban are allowed to retain ownership until the pet’s death. Also, there is an amnesty program in place which allows exotic pet owners to continue caring for their animals until an appropriate home is found—this is run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC.
Then this happened. More than thirty snakes were killed with a bolt gun, without anesthesia. Included among them was a boa constrictor named Big Shirl. Boas are not illegal pets. Big Shirl was pregnant at the time of her death—yes, I do mean pregnant, too, as boas give live birth and do not lay external eggs. In this video you can see Big Shirl writhing for several minutes after she was shot; Big Shirl was a beloved pet who had been part of her owner’s family for more than ten years, and as a boa, should have been in his life for at least ten more.
The owner was not present on his property when officers of the FWC came to kill his animals; the video above was taken by a friend who had worked with the owner for years and describes being present for the hatching of every snake they killed. He also had explained about the boa, who they were not to touch—the officers were aware of this, as shown by their own expressions after realizing they’d wrongfully killed Big Shirl. He can be heard on the video, clearly distraught by what was happening.
The video shows that the officer using the bolt gun is untrained and unfamiliar with the device; one officer poses for a picture with one of the snakes they killed, too. The animals are pulled out of their enclosures and shot in the head with the bolt gun without any anesthesia—most reptile vets do not use this method. In fact, snakes can be euthanized the same way a cat or dog can. These animals were slaughtered for no reason other than existing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I genuinely feel sick. These animals should have been safe—they were in their homes, being actively loved and cared for. I know I would be devastated if this were done to any of my pets—and when I think back on the temperament of the sweet little ball python I was lucky enough to help care for as a child, it makes me sick to think that someone could take such a trusting and loving creature from his safe place and deliver a slow, agonizing death. I just don’t have the words for how upset I am right now.
If any of you have the time, consider calling the people involved with the FWC. If you aren’t comfortable calling, here are all the emails I was able to find:
[email protected] Chief Communications Officer
[email protected] Acting Executive Director
[email protected] Deputy Chief of Staff
[email protected] Chief of Staff
[email protected] Chief Financial Officer
[email protected] Officer
[email protected] Officer
Please, please, please do what you can to help bring this to more people’s attention. Dozens of pets were just cruelly and unethically killed—these people need to understand how wrong what they did was, and they can only learn by being told. The owners and family of these reptiles deserve to know that they are not alone and that they have people who will support them.