Snake slaying was improper, wildlife officials say (WARNING GRAPHIC!)

A man who helped kill a Burmese python in front of journalists at a Hallandale Beach processing plant broke the rules governing the hunting of the non-native snakes in the Everglades, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Josh Zarmati, a Miami snake breeder, was one of several licensed snake dealers allowed by the state to kill pythons in the Everglades. But under the rules, he was required to either kill the python where it was found or bring it to a veterinarian or research facility, said Scott Hardin, the agency's exotic species coordinator.
Instead, Zarmati brought two pythons last week to All American Gator in Hallandale Beach and held one down while the company's president, Brian Wood, whacked off its head with a hatchet. The top four inches of the snake continued to writhe, the mouth opening and closing, until Wood smashed it several times with the hatchet's blunt end. An account appeared in Wednesday's Sun-Sentinel.
The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, based in Fort Lauderdale, e-mailed the state wildlife commission Wednesday asking if this was the proper procedure. The agency contacted Zarmati and told him to follow the rules next time.
"They didn't want any of the animals — because of the animal rights groups and PETA — to be killed on camera," Zarmati said. "I kind of got into a little bit of trouble."
Although the state had begun a special Burmese python hunt in the Everglades last week, Zarmati was not participating in that but had been catching pythons as one of several snake experts who had a special permit.
Euthanasia guidelines from the American Veterinary Medical Association say decapitation is not adequate for snakes and other reptiles because death may not be immediate.
Stephanie Bell, cruelty case manager for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the most humane method is lethal injection, but if that is impractical in the field it is best to first stun the snake and then decapitate it or to decapitate it and immediately pithe it, that is, scramble its brain with a metal tool.
She said Wood did the right thing by whacking it on the head to put it out of its misery.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pal...,6260469.story

i heard about this yesterday.
i was pretty ticked off about it...

maybe they should start doing this instead of the lethal injection for death row inmates and we'll see the crime rate begin to drop...

point is... just because the animal feels pain only for a couple of seconds before it dies doesn't mean it's humane way to kill it. These animals wouldn't have to be subjected to these hunts in the first place if it wasn't because of retards who can't handle them, and are letting them go in the first place. or not keeping them in secure enclosures.

at the end of the day, it's the animals who suffer for IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE'S mistakes.

I read this yesterday. I could not believe he did that in front of other people. I myself would not be able to do it at all. I clicked on the link and read a few of the comments and was disgusted. Comments like it is only a snake people get a grip. But if it was done to some thing with fur or feathers then they would change there tune. The whole thing just sickens me. I understand there is a problem with these large snakes in the everglades but...

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Originally Posted by Repsrul

I understand there is a problem with these large snakes in the everglades but...

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actually, i live in south florida and i have to say...i don't think there's THAT much of a snake problem down here anymore. i mean, the weather hasn't hit a good 75 degrees in the past 3/1/5 months! there are a LOT of canals around here and ALL THE IGUANAS HAVE DISAPPEARED! most are dead because of spending 2 months in 40-50 degree weather. weird for florida, i know. it's normally 90 degrees down here.

i suspect that the wild reptile population has taken a toll in the past 3 months. and you're right about what you said that if these animals were furry or feathered they'd make a big deal out of it.

Scramble it's brains??? My god that's morbid. I can tell these people have already been "pithed" themselves the way they're talkin.......

Just look at the comments at the bottom of the page:

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It is a snake, idiots!! It was probably a registered Democrat, too.

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ANY ONE WHO WOULD PROTEST THE WAY A SNAKE DIES,HAS GOT TO BE A FELLOW DEMOCRAT,OR INSANE....WELL, ONE IS EQUAL TO THE OTHER.....

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These intelligent comments come from very ignorant people. IMO its these people who either watch or paricipate in rattlesnake roundups and prob laugh and have a good old redneck time. Im sorry but if you find ANY way to justify the suffering of ANY being you are one sick SOB. You prob get kicks watching the saw movies lol.
And I really wish that these morons did not express their political views, its gives people the wrong impression. :colbert: :cool:

There are three EASY and HARD TO SCREW UP ways to kill an animal:

1) Hammer or a bat.. Anything that is a large enough swingable lever + heavy blunt object. A few sharp strikes (one good strike does the job, but a second or third are good in case you hesitated on the first) just to the side or top of the skull, right where the brain is situated. This is my preferred method of dispatching fish that I'm harvesting for food. It's much better than letting them suffocate, or letting them bleed out after slitting the gills (which I also do for best meat quality, but only after dispatching the fish). This gets less suitable as the size of the animal grows, but snakes heads aren't exactly armored and should still work even on very large burms.

2) gun. One large caliber hollow point bullet or shotgun slug to the brain cavity. This is difficult to do on reptiles if you are not versed in how to target the brain. Just ask people who hunt gators or nile crocs how difficult it is. The brain shot on a reptile is just about one the most difficult large game hunting shots that there is. Luckily burms have small heads, at least compared to crocs and gators, so this should be easy with a large caliber round.

3) sharp pointy object to the brain. As morbid as "scrambling the brain" sounds, it works and works fast, but you have to penetrate the skull. This is more physically demanding than the two above methods, so hopefully you are better prepared than needing to do this.

I'm freaking tired of people who don't like messier ways of dispatching animals.

As a society we're obsessed with silent unobservable death. If you've never seen a lethal injection death, you should. You'd quickly change your mind about it being "humane" more than likely. Gas-related death is particularly difficult to do with reptiles. Death by hypoxia or toxic gasses takes much too long with reptiles to be humane. The metabolism is too slow for hypoxia or a toxic gas to kill them quickly.

The only reason to avoid physical trauma for dispatching a creature is for the benefit of the one in charge of how it is performed, and the observers.

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Originally Posted by djansen

Just look at the comments at the bottom of the page:





These intelligent comments come from very ignorant people. IMO its these people who either watch or paricipate in rattlesnake roundups and prob laugh and have a good old redneck time. Im sorry but if you find ANY way to justify the suffering of ANY being you are one sick SOB. You prob get kicks watching the saw movies lol.
And I really wish that these morons did not express their political views, its gives people the wrong impression. :colbert: :cool:

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:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

2) gun. One large caliber hollow point bullet or shotgun slug to the brain cavity. This is difficult to do on reptiles if you are not versed in how to target the brain. Just ask people who hunt gators or nile crocs how difficult it is. The brain shot on a reptile is just about one the most difficult large game hunting shots that there is. Luckily burms have small heads, at least compared to crocs and gators, so this should be easy with a large caliber round.

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Well, not everyone is comfortable smashing an animal's head, or sticking something in the skull and "scrambling" the brain.
That's why my favorite is the GUN. one shot, no matter from WHAT firearm, and you're almost guaranteed to either blow the whole head to smithereens, or destroy the whole brain in one shot. it's FAST, and painless. if the snake twitches afterwards it's just a muscular reaction, but the brain is done for so it can't "feel" ANYTHING.

Wow, some of those comments are wacked.

I didn’t know you had to be a “rabid bleeding-heart liberal” to be offended by some jackass improperly euthanizing an animal for ‘shock value’ or whatever. What a total dink. :(

WOW:mad:

I refuse to even read the comments, because I know it will put me in a bad mood for the next week or more.

Suffice it to say, I think he should have his permit taken away, to send the message this sort of thing is NOT acceptable as a way to deal with problem snakes. The next thing you know, there are going to be reports of kids and dogs getting bitten because the neighbor didn't want to deal with his big snake anymore and chopped off it's head and left it laying around.

Sad, the way some people view animals of any kind as disposable.

Gale

I hate reading the how tos. I feel like were killing zombies.

I saw the pictures this morning that they took, it was VERY disturbing.

It is very disturbing. We have to keep in mind though, these are wild animals. Some may have been a pet at one time, but it would be a rare probability.

If a wild dog came into my yard, I would get out a gun and take care of it. Taking out the wild population is good for us. It's very hard to watch, but just think of the ones we are taking good care of. In our homes, the ones who will live out their days being lazy, having sex, and good meals. That is what makes it worthwhile.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Wait, what method was Florida fish and game recommending as the proper way to euthanize a Burm?

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Originally Posted by stratus_020202

It is very disturbing. We have to keep in mind though, these are wild animals. Some may have been a pet at one time, but it would be a rare probability.

If a wild dog came into my yard, I would get out a gun and take care of it. Taking out the wild population is good for us. It's very hard to watch, but just think of the ones we are taking good care of. In our homes, the ones who will live out their days being lazy, having sex, and good meals. That is what makes it worthwhile.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

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You're right... Wild animals all deserve to die. If they had their way they'd do the same and worse to us...

for some reason i wanted the burmese to turn around and eat him :crash:


if ignorance was bliss i think it stopped a long time ago

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Originally Posted by MustBeSatan

You're right... Wild animals all deserve to die. If they had their way they'd do the same and worse to us...

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umm,,, technically all animals, wild or domesticated, were all at one time wild, a domesticated dog can do just the same amount of damage that a wild dog can do. If you were to kill all of one species of animal, let's say deer, then in the area that I live in, the mountain lions and coyote's would start moving into the cities in search of food. A human is the perfect sized prey for a mountain lion and several people have already been killed, why make the problem worse. Sure, you could kill the mountain lion, but then the mountain lion would become extinct, then the rabbits would ruin the whole circle,

I'm not trying to be al PETA or anything, I hate peta, but the kill all wild animals thing is a little much, because all wild animals would not try to kill you, are you really afraid of a widdle bunny wabbit? i didn't think so, what about a freaking ball python, or corn snake, or a "wild" chihuahua? would you kill it, or think twice seems how your chihuahua is so special to your family?

if it wasn't for wild caught ball pythons from africa that showed a special color variation, there would be no morphs, no BP trade, no anything, I would think twice about killing them all, cause some may be the key to the next exotics boom.....

Very graphic photo's here :
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pal...1.photogallery

Now, the reason I'm asking is because I clearly remember the FWC stating that the approved method for 'euthanizing' Burmese was to strike off their head with a sharp blade. I'm not kidding.
If my memory is correct, then the method that was used here, whether it was humane or not, WAS approved (though the location it was done at was not).

Now, when I go looking for it...I can't find it. Look for yourself, can you find a statement anywhere as to what methods for euthanizing Burmese are approved? That's a strange bit of information to hide, don't you think?

Also, is anyone tired of hearing the term 'euthanized' being thrown out in place of 'harvested', 'slaughtered', or other terms that are applied to killing game animals, when they're talking about Burmese?

"I'm going to euthanize this chicken with an axe". "He euthanized the big buck with a 270 Winchester". "After he finished euthanizing the steer, we all had a big steak dinner".
Really?

edit:
Here's one short reference saying PETA itself RECOMMENDED decapitation: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/h...ory?id=4580281

Here's another with PETA complaining that FWC was advocating decapitation without clubbing (let's call it what it is) first, and that wasn't right:
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/seein...asive-species/

Aha. I knew if I looked around hard enough I would find something:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/07/3...y-hunters.html

So, striking off the snake's head was just FINE with the FWC. They figure reptile keepers already know how to humanely dispatch snakes, so anything they do must be fine. They were fine with someone slicing through a snake's spine with a pocket knife.

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Originally Posted by Jimi_Reptile

umm,,, technically all animals, wild or domesticated, ..................... I would think twice about killing them all, cause some may be the key to the next exotics boom.....

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I was being rudely sarcastic because I was offended by the "if a wild dog comes into my yard..." comment ;) I completely agree with everything you said.

Sorry you thought I was being serious!

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Now, the reason I'm asking is because I clearly remember the FWC stating that the approved method for 'euthanizing' Burmese was to strike off their head with a sharp blade.

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I think you're right... I definately remember seeing this as the recommended method. Either shooting them in the head or decapitation... Infact, as brutal as it is, and as much as I disagree with this whole thing... The fact that he actually beat it in the head when it didn't die instantly actually makes me feel a little better. If they had all stood around while the snakes head was still alive... That would have been much worse IMO.

"shakes head"