Florida Murders More Animals

[Snagrio]

I spent most of my career working with federal and state bureaucracies in an area of health care that was and is extremely controversial and politically loaded. So what I'm seeing and hearing with FWC is sickeningly familiar.

I certainly hope nobody slips into victim-blaming and implying that the keeper whose snakes were killed is somehow at fault. These bureaucracies, and the convoluted regulations they supposedly enforce, are deliberately confusing to most of us. This gives the organizations an advantage because (a) they have the power in the first place; (b) the regulations and laws are so convoluted, confusing and even contradictory that the institution can pretty much interpret them in whatever way conveys the greatest benefit to that institution, and (c) it makes it very easy for the public to blame those who are victimized (and I use that word deliberately) by a system that really is not there to benefit them in the first place.

And that's what's happening here. This keeper may or may not have followed the regulations perfectly (though from what I am reading so far, he came pretty damned close). NOBODY could have negotiated this rat's nest of a situation perfectly. The keeper is not the problem. The laws and regulations that were put into place, and the FWC leadership that is instructing their staff and enforcing those regulations, is the problem.

The FWC, in and of itself, has been a hugely problematic organization. I'm hoping this incident will bring that to light, as they have done a better job of protecting developers than wildlife.

At any rate, here are some statements from an interview with Chris Coffee, the snakes' keeper, that may help explain things a bit more. But PLEASE know that this situation may never be crystal-clear because FWC doesn't want it to be crystal-clear. I realize I sound cynical, but I have an entire professional lifetime of similar incidents as a foundation.

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My name is Chris Coffee, this all started a year ago when the FWC gave me 90 days to liquidate 150 snakes. I sold all but 35 of them so I reached out asking what I should do as my deadline was approaching, but since I wasn’t able to sell them or keep them and my license was about to expire, I needed to know what my options were. They told me to fill out the paperwork on their webiste to have my snakes “grandfathered in”. After filling out the paperwork and submitting it, the FWC sent an investigator who told me he was only doing a regular inspection so that this could happen. After coming in and documenting all of my animals, they arrested me and charged me with the possession of Reticulated and Burmese Pythons, that I possessed legally. The whole thing was a set up… at that time they gave me a property receipt for the 35 animals and I was told that if I moved the animals from the facility, I would be arrested and charged with felonies this time. So for 1 year and 2 months the snakes sat here in my facility. On Thursday, April 6th, Officer Lex contacted me explaining that he had a task to perform for the FWC. I asked what would happen if I didn’t let him in? He explained that I would be arrested. Then I asked what would happen if the snakes had passed away and I froze them in my cooler? He explained that I would be arrested for euthanizing them inhumanely. My hands were tied and I was left with no other choice than to let them enter my facility. Lex told me that he could euthanize the snakes in a way that would be humane and that I wouldn’t get in trouble because all of this would be over that day. I voluntarily signed a property receipt again, for the second time, at which they came in and used a nail gun on 35 of my snakes. I repeatedly told them that there was a Boa Constrictor in one of the cages that was pregnant, this was my partner’s, Bill. Boas are legal in the state of Florida and they reassured me she would not be touched. I could not bare to watch what they were doing to my animals so I decided to leave the room, staying in the facility, but leave my phone in there with them to record the process.

Also, tape of a brief interview with Chris: https://www.tiktok.com/@chriscoffee/video/7220951942535728426

Mentioned this a while ago, but this entire fiasco only seems to have proved my point. This is exactly why I will never "register" any of my animals if I can help it, because it seems to me all you're really doing is putting a target on your back for when these megalomaniacs suddenly change their minds on a whim and decide the creatures in your care need to be executed. And from what other people are saying this case is far from an isolated incident of officials just waltzing into someone's home and slaughtering cherished pets, this is but only a better documented one.

I don't think I'd ever need to do such things anyway since none of the species I have are generally "problematic" and I don't ever intend to move anywhere where they would be (i.e. pretty much any of the southeastern states) but all the same, these awful people are only getting more and more bold and brazen...