15 snakes and 1 cat seized from home

[Bluebonnet Herp]

http://www.chron.com/houston/article...on-5562366.php

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.

Something seems sort of fishy here...

To the naked eye, said Mosier, they look to be in good health but according to zoo staff they were in fact not.

"They weren't able to stretch out the way they should and that's dangerous for them," said Mosier.

"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 [ARAs love these words] 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.

Then again, I may be wrong. We have no actual details as to how exactly were the animals contained or kept or what their condition is/was. Until then, I'm just a skeptical conspiracy theorist.
I'm also interested as to what implications this can have for Texas, if any. We'll see if this story grabs any attention or if more details are made available...

[Bluebonnet Herp]

Oh look, another article! With a video: http://www.khou.com/news/local/Autho...263696751.html

My skepticism grows...

[sho220]

Is it just me, or did they all look fine? The BP looked a little thin, but it's probably on a fast. I like the way they spiced up the story by calling them "dangerous" and "venomous"...

[Pythonfriend]

the video is ridiculous. the part about "venomous snakes" is made up. and they did make the snakes appear dangerous, mentioning children and so on.

i didnt see malnourished snakes, venomous snakes, or stuck shed. one thing they mentioned is that one of the snakes has something like a spine kink, but who knows what that is about.

[jackal_727]

Absolutely ridiculous. Every snake I saw was in fine condition. This is just political overreach at work. If 15 snakes is a big news story, they'd have the story of the year coming in my house. What a bunch of jerks.

[Bluebonnet Herp]

Absolutely ridiculous. Every snake I saw was in fine condition. This is just political overreach at work. If 15 snakes is a big news story, they'd have the story of the year coming in my house. What a bunch of jerks.

This is probably the worst nightmare of any reptile keeper.

[wilomn]

If 15 snakes is a big news story, they'd have the story of the year coming in my house. What a bunch of jerks.

THIS is the type of statement that gets people's attention. Often the wrong, for us, kind of attention.

Were I you, or anyone else reading this, think twice before making such statements. Anyone and everyone can read anything you write anywhere on the net. It never goes away.

[Bluebonnet Herp]

This news story is still developing, it seems. Even then, I'm getting contradicting reports. One police officer says that they were free-ranging, yet in another article, they were kept in homemade enclosure.

I know, let's play a game of spot the liar!

[Bluebonnet Herp]

I wonder if she had the permit required here in Texas required to own those snakes. Seeing how she's not facing charges or the fact they didn't mention it, she probably did.
This is quite the confusing story, isn't it?

[Aryia]

Are snakes even covered under animal protection? As far as I know you seem to be able to kill a snake as long as it's not endangered, I don't even see how animal cruelty would apply here. And how is SPCA going to take care of the snakes? From what I can see they only deal with mammals (from rodents to farm animals) and pet birds. Nowhere do I even see a single reptile or animal that would require special heating requirements. It just feels like they wouldn't be prepared in equipment or knowledge to take on 15 snakes all of the sudden.

Unless my BPs are really really weird, they seem to like being coiled up instead of stretched out O.o? And I'm sure there's underweight snakes at almost any facility considering BPs go on food strikes every now and then.

Why would the cat become dinner anyway? Was there a burmese running around loose in the house or something?

Lastly I'm kind of curious who this "Mosier" person is. All I can find is that he is part of law enforcement and not a reptile expert. Who is he to say what "cruel confinement" and "dangerous conditions" for snakes are?