Cops episode - killing a harmless snake

[Lolo76]

(Not sure where to put this, so feel free to move to the appropriate forum)

OMG... I'm sitting here watching an old "Cops" episode, and this one segment just made me cry! They were in the south (Florida?) and a woman calls in that a snake is on her porch. The cops show up, find a gorgeous and obviously docile black rat snake (?) above the porch. The poor snake is just slithering around, minding its own business, and would probably have moved on in a minute. So there are THREE cops standing around with their heads up their arses, trying to figure out how to handle it. One yells "Spray it with the mace!" which the female cop proceeds to do - twice. Then another cop shows up, this big hulk of a man, and he strolls right up and bashes it on the head with his club. The poor thing struggled for a minute, until the cop finished the job with another blow & threw it in the garbage. What the heck??!!

They said "we really didn't want it to end that way, and hoped the snake wouldn't have to be hurt" - but they never even gave the poor thing a chance to move on. It made NO attempt to strike them, and was just crawling around and flickering its little tongue... probably just looking for a good mouse/rat to dine on. These morons also referred to it as a poisonous snake, when anyone with half a brain could see it wasn't a viper, cobra or rattlesnake. Even before I had snakes and knew anything about them, I could tell the difference between a poisonous and non-poisonous snake. Maybe it was too small of a town for this, but they didn't even attempt to contact animal control or anyone with snake knowledge. This reeeaaaallllly ticked me off, and I'm thinking of sending a nasty letter to that police dept. I'll have to rewind my TiVo to see where they were...

Has anyone else seen this episode? I couldn't find any clips online, but I did find this one discussion: http://forums.g4tv.com/showthread.php?t=25778 We really need to educate the public on snakes, seeing as they share our land... or do humans want to kill off that species too?? Argh.

[Lolo76]

Shoot... I just tried to rewind, and accidentally hit record (which caused the previous episode to disappear). I think it was Gainseville, but not 100% sure.

[Lolo76]

And while I'm on the topic, here's another incredibly stupid cop/snake story (found it while looking for info on the episode): http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008...sive_pyth.html

[Buttons]

(Not sure where to put this, so feel free to move to the appropriate forum)

OMG... I'm sitting here watching an old "Cops" episode, and this one segment just made me cry! They were in the south (Florida?) and a woman calls in that a snake is on her porch. The cops show up, find a gorgeous and obviously docile black rat snake (?) above the porch. The poor snake is just slithering around, minding its own business, and would probably have moved on in a minute. So there are THREE cops standing around with their heads up their arses, trying to figure out how to handle it. One yells "Spray it with the mace!" which the female cop proceeds to do - twice. Then another cop shows up, this big hulk of a man, and he strolls right up and bashes it on the head with his club. The poor thing struggled for a minute, until the cop finished the job with another blow & threw it in the garbage. What the heck??!!

They said "we really didn't want it to end that way, and hoped the snake wouldn't have to be hurt" - but they never even gave the poor thing a chance to move on. It made NO attempt to strike them, and was just crawling around and flickering its little tongue... probably just looking for a good mouse/rat to dine on. These morons also referred to it as a poisonous snake, when anyone with half a brain could see it wasn't a viper, cobra or rattlesnake. Even before I had snakes and knew anything about them, I could tell the difference between a poisonous and non-poisonous snake. Maybe it was too small of a town for this, but they didn't even attempt to contact animal control or anyone with snake knowledge. This reeeaaaallllly ticked me off, and I'm thinking of sending a nasty letter to that police dept. I'll have to rewind my TiVo to see where they were...

Has anyone else seen this episode? I couldn't find any clips online, but I did find this one discussion: http://forums.g4tv.com/showthread.php?t=25778 We really need to educate the public on snakes, seeing as they share our land... or do humans want to kill off that species too?? Argh.

Can't really "bash" the police for not knowing when you yourself don't seem to know that snakes aren't poisonous, they're venomous.

[lillyorchid]

I saw this Cops episode a few months ago. Very sad! Poor snake.

[Aeries]

Buttons, that's a distinction that they get wrong in documentries and journal articles, let alone the average person. Lay people hear those words used interchangably all their lives.
For the OP's benefit, the main difference inbetween venom and poison is that venom works in the bloodstream, it harmless if injested (provided you don't have ulcers or sores in your digestive tract).

But on topic, I agree with you, stories like that are always horrible. Unfortunatly it's not reversible. People just need to become more educated, because society teaches them a phobia, an irrational fear.

[Buttons]

Buttons, that's a distinction that they get wrong in documentries and journal articles, let alone the average person. Lay people hear those words used interchangably all their lives.
For the OP's benefit, the main difference inbetween venom and poison is that venom works in the bloodstream, it harmless if injested (provided you don't have ulcers or sores in your digestive tract).

But on topic, I agree with you, stories like that are always horrible. Unfortunatly it's not reversible. People just need to become more educated, because society teaches them a phobia, an irrational fear.

Someone who owns snakes and makes comments like "These morons also referred to it as a poisonous snake, when anyone with half a brain could see it wasn't a viper, cobra or rattlesnake" shouldn't really be making those comments when they themselves look like the moron.

[omnibus2]

Someone who owns snakes and makes comments like "These morons also referred to it as a poisonous snake, when anyone with half a brain could see it wasn't a viper, cobra or rattlesnake" shouldn't really be making those comments when they themselves look like the moron.

Well, it's a non-venomous snake, and they thought it was venomous and therefore killed it...

[CoolioTiffany]

Man, that's really sad.

I heard a story a while ago, kind of like this, but it does involve a snake getting killed:

There was a man who had this albino boa that he adopted and he was going to take it to the vet for a check up (I think?) and he stopped by a Star Bucks to get a cup of coffee. He had this snake in an army bag in his car, and when he ran inside to get the coffee he had the doors unlocked, but only in there for 2 minutes. When the man got back the bag was gone. He tried searching everywhere for it, and even put up posters. A while after, the snake was found on the ground with rocks near it. The snake was beaten with rocks that were thrown at it, and then the head was chopped right off.

It's a pretty sad story, and I think this snake also had a litter of baby boas.

[Buttons]

Well, it's a non-venomous snake, and they thought it was venomous and therefore killed it...

You really didn't get my point. Lolo called them morons for thinking it was a "poisonous" snake when she herself doesn't seem to know the difference between poisonous and venomous!

She shouldn't be calling them morons if she herself doesn't know the difference.

Now do you understand?