FYI: public employees talk to each other. Your call to animal control (even if it were morally permissible to violate the trust someone places in you to care for their animal) will not be anonymous (IP, email, phone number). This is not worth ruining your academic career over. For pete's sake, people -- be careful what you recommend to minors.

Also, since you're talking very critically about the situation here, I think directing him here would be a very bad idea from a reasonable self-interest POV.

On animal control: where I live (Wisconsin) the state humane society thinks ball pythons should live in fish tanks with heat lamps:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...n-brown-county

It is a bit odd that though this situation is so terrible that you thought it prudent to get involved more deeply with it. Also, I'm a bit skeptical of the owl mention. Unless I'm mistaken, all native owls are protected in the US (I take it you're in the US -- your language strongly indicates you are). Which species of owl is this?