Over a dozen snakes and at least one cat were taken from a home in the Heights this afternoon after a cruelty report was filed and a search was made of the residence.
Meera Nandlal with the Houston SPCA says that her department and the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office worked together, with assistance from the Houston Zoo, to rescue 15 snakes and one cat from the home. Nandlal said that some of the snakes are very large and said to be underweight.
"They were in poor environmental conditions," said Nandlal. "The snakes have been taken to an undisclosed location and will be cared for by the Houston SPCA."
An anonymous complaint had been made on the home, located in the 700 block of W. 21st in the Heights, a month or so ago.
"We gave the woman at the home a few chances to rectify the situation," said Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office spokesman J.C. Mosier. "We gave her some time to make changes, and for a time she had cleaned them up and was being cooperative, but when we returned today the snakes didn't appear to be in good health."
As of now the woman has not yet been identified.
She had been keeping the 15 snakes, of which there were various breeds of pythons and boa constrictors, in a "snake room" in her home, Mosier said.
Today officials arrived with a court order to seize the snakes, joined by herpetologist from the zoo. To the naked eye, said Mosier, they look to be in good health but according to zoo staff they were in fact not.
The largest of the snakes was 18 to 20 feet, according Mosier, with the smallest one just a foot or two in length. The woman had allegedly been feeding the biggest ones by throwing live chickens and rabbits into their homemade enclosures, he said. The largest ones seem to be suffering the most.
"They weren't able to stretch out the way they should and that's dangerous for them," said Mosier.
There were a lot of people handling them and only one official was bit, by the smallest python in the bunch, according to Mosier. The snakes were placed in dog kennels and removed from the residence.
The owner of the snakes had moved into the smaller house behind the house that the snakes were living in because it had become too cluttered with snakes and other belongings she had accumulated.
As for any animal cruelty charges against the woman, Mosier says that that will be determined once a full evaluation of the snakes can be made by the HSPCA and zoo staff. Mosier says that she should be appearing before a judge within the next week.
"To charge with anything it has to be proven that she was doing something specifically to injure the animals," said Mosier. "Keeping them in this cruel confinement probably won't help her case."
Mosier said that the female cat that was found at the house seemed to be in good health considering the circumstances it had been living in.
"She's lucky that she didn't become dinner for one of the snakes," Mosier said. She's said be going up for adoption soon, he said.
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