Quote Originally Posted by jclaiborne View Post
On this topic of general public ignorance, one of my co-workers just came up and asked me if I was getting rid of my snakes now, I calmly asked why. Their response was "well you have a 5 year old and you have two killing machines in your house, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night." I have a corn and a baby BP hardly what comes to mind when I hear "killing Machine" I tried explaining that a ball python and corn are not even in the same category as a rock python, but their response (not sure why it suprised me) was "a snake is a snake is a snake". Trying to get them to understand I said "well do you own any dogs?" They have a pug, so I asked "people die every year from dog attacks, shouldnt you get rid of your pug?" I thought that logic made perfect sense, apparently I was wrong. They got frustrated, told me I "am not making any sense because dogs don't intentionally hurt people, and Ill never understand"....they then walked off. WHAT!?
*face palm*

That's exactly the kind of ignorance that is the loudest to scream and the hardest to fight. And you know what? Small dog breed compared to smaller docile snake and a large dog breed compared to a larger snake species isn't even a good comparison! Small dogs are known for biting and bad attitudes. Many a vet tech and shelter worker I've talked to have said they've been bitten far more often by small dogs than large dogs. The only reason you don't hear about it is because their bites don't do as much damage as a larger dog (usually). Compared to a docile ball python that would bite once in a blue moon, if even that often, a small dog is like Freddy Krueger!

And to say dogs don' intentionally hurt people is idiocy at its best. Most well trained, properly socialized, and well cared for dogs may not intentionally hurt someone, but there are plenty of poorly cared for, untrained, unsocialized dogs out there who WOULD bite! Personally... when I am out in my monitoring areas, working as a biologist, I would much rather come across a snake (even a venomous rattlesnake!) than a loose dog... The snakes at least try to avoid me. A couple of the dogs I've come across have actually growled at me, and some have even made like they were going to attack. I carry my Taser in case I come across a hostile human, but I carry my pepper spray in case of dog.