Florida Murders More Animals

[Malum Argenteum]

I think this article from the Palm Beach Post is a little clearer:
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/...d/70100449007/.

In that linked article, it is stated that FWC technically owned the snakes, which were confiscated as part of a criminal charge, which Coffee is said to have also stated (although elsewhere it states that Coffee owned them). That's a relevant fact in all this.

Captive bolt guns are pretty standard practice for humanely dispatching larger animals including reptiles, as they're effective, efficient and safe for the operator. It isn't crazy to expect that a breeder of retics and burms with a triple digit collection should know the basics of euthanasia guidelines.

But the part of the story where FWC sent four officers over to see if there was a retic unaccounted for is a bit odd. FWC also claimed they hadn't intended to euthanize any snakes, but Coffee said they suggested it, which isn't exactly consistent with FWC's claim (do they go off the plan for the day like that regularly?). But if Coffee agreed to the suggestion, and they weren't legally his snakes anyway (though if that is true, why did FWC ask for his permission? and why in the middle of the retic hunt?), and Coffee stated that he agrees that FWC was legally entitled to euthanize the snakes, there's no immediate legal issue (except for pointless laws, of course).

It is also interesting that the USARK description and the Palm Beach Post story (for which Coffee was apparently interviewed) differ on whether FWC had permission or if "After Coffee allowed them into the facility, the officers began pulling snakes out of their enclosures and killing them". If the Post has that part right, then the USARK piece is substantially misleading.


Copy of that linked article, in case it disappears from that news site:


Officials killed 34 caged pythons, but didn't mean to kill a pet boa constrictor named Big Shirl

Burmese pythons are a damaging invasive species that eat almost anything and have overrun the Everglades. They were added to a list of prohibited species in 2021.

Kimberly MillerPalm Beach Post
















Dozens of caged pythons and one pet boa constrictor named Big Shirl were killed by Florida wildlife officers last week in what some reptile enthusiasts say was an overreach of authority in euthanizing the pythons and a mistake in the death of the boa.
Bill McAdam, whose Broward County warehouse is where the snakes lived, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers killed 34 Burmese and reticulated pythons on Thursday with a bolt gun that is supposed to deliver immediate and lethal blows to the snakes' heads.
Pythons, a damaging invasive species that eat almost anything and have overrun the Everglades, were added to a list of prohibited species by FWC commissioners in February 2021. Commercial breeders were given about five months to get rid of their animals. Boa constrictors such as Big Shirl, who McAdam owned for more than a decade, are not on the list of prohibited species.
FWC issued a statement on Tuesday about the hours-long euthanasia incident, but didn't go into detail about what happened and didn't mention the boa constrictor.
However, Chris Coffee, who owned the pythons that were euthanized, told a tangled version of events late Tuesday afternoon that began with FWC officers issuing him citations in February 2022 and ended Thursday with snake blood and feces on the warehouse floor.
"I don't like that they shot them in the head," said Coffee, who witnessed the first death before leaving the room.
Video captures shock, anger in apparent wrongful death of a boa

What seems clear is the death of the boa, not among the species in dispute, was a tragic error.
In a video posted to YouTube by the Florida division of the United States Association of Reptile Keepers, an officer puts his hands to his head in apparent disbelief and another officer's jaw drops open when they realize they had just killed the boa, which was pregnant.
“Oh my God! Why?” Coffee can be heard yelling in the background of the video when officers say the “boa is dead.”
“It was a mistake,” someone says.
“How? I reminded you 10 times!” Coffee exclaims.
An autopsy on Big Shirl found she was pregnant with 32 babies, according to a spokesman for the reptile keepers group. McAdam estimates the babies were worth about $3,500 each.
“I raised that boa since it was a baby,” McAdam said. “I went ballistic when I found out. I told them, 'You guys are going to pay for this.'”

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FWC said in a statement that it went to the Broward warehouse because there had been a report of a reticulated python in the area. Reticulated pythons are also invasive species prohibited in Florida because of the damage they do to native wildlife.
The statement said the FWC did not have any intention of killing the snakes in the Broward warehouse, which is rented by Coffee and McAdam. FWC also said that the snakes were relinquished to them on Thursday and officers were asked to euthanize the snakes by the owner at that time and at the warehouse.
"The FWC Division of Law Enforcement is determining the full details of this incident and more information will be released when it is verified and appropriate to do so," the statement said.
But Coffee, a commercial breeder, said that although he has been caring for the pythons, FWC technically confiscated them in February 2022 when he was charged with having a prohibited species without a permit. The 34 pythons in his warehouse were ones that remained after he had found homes for about 120 other pythons following the 2021 rule change.
Coffee said he "begged" FWC for a deadline extension to find homes for the remaining 34, but that he was told the deadline to get rid of them was passed, the snakes could no longer be sold and he had to care for them while his citations went through the courts.
Broward County court records show the case was dismissed Feb. 6 after Coffee was accepted into a misdemeanor diversion program and paid $250 to buy out community service hours.
On Thursday, Coffee said he was called by FWC officers about the reticulated python sighting. He said he was wary of letting the officers into the warehouse because he thought he may get charged again for having the pythons even though he said they had been FWC property since they were confiscated more than a year ago. He felt like he was stuck in a Catch-22.
"They said we can euthanize the snakes for you and it will all be over today and we'll never harass you again," Coffee said he was told by the FWC officers on the phone after they asked to go into the warehouse. "I didn't know it meant brutally shooting them in the head. Once I saw them kill the first snake, I told them to stop, that I couldn't do this."
Pythons can be captured and humanely killed by members of the public, so Coffee said he realizes the officers were within their right to kill the pythons, but not the boa constrictor.
"I reiterated 10 times, please don't touch the boa constrictor," he said.
Curt Harbsmeier, an attorney and legal advisor to the reptile group, said he wants to know about the timing — why the state agency moved to euthanize the snakes last week after the snakes had been in the warehouse for more than a year with the FWC's knowledge.



Why euthanize the pythons now?

“Why did they have to go in there now?" said Harbsmeier. "They call it euthanize, I call it a slaughter. There was blood all over.”
Under the 2021 rule change, invasive tegus and green iguanas were grandfathered in as pets and could be kept for their lifetime by owners who had to follow upgraded requirements for enclosures. But it’s not clear in FWC rules online if the newly-prohibited snakes could also be kept as pets by their current owners.
“For reptile keepers, these animals are just like dogs or cats to many people,” said Daniel Parker, director of media for the United States Association of Reptile Keepers, Florida. "We love them and cherish them. They are not just disposable.”

Several animal rights groups supported the 2021 rule change, which also prohibited green anacondas and Nile monitors, because of the damage these reptiles do to native wildlife in Florida.
Elise Bennett, Florida director of the Center for Biological Diversity, didn’t know anything about the Thursday python killing, but said her group supported the rule change to control the invasive species spread and keep them from inhumane conditions.
“Most of these exotic, invasive species are here by no fault of their own,” Bennett said. “It’s heartbreaking and unfortunate when they have to pay the price for humans’ thoughtless actions.”