Hundreds of small animals meant for adoption may have been frozen, fed to reptiles

[Bogertophis]

You're right about that mainly (IMO) because the general public dislikes snakes and really dislikes the notion of feeding cute furry animals to them. While I'm looking at it as an indicator of the need to support shelters and rescues, I think you and Bogertophis are absolutely correct in thinking that this situation does no favors at all to the reptile keeping community even though none of us would agree with what happened.

I think that's because most people think of reptile keepers as ONLY reptile lovers. They put us all in a separate category & don't realize how many of us are into ALL kinds of other animals too, so it's easy for them to assume that we're all the worst version of reptile keepers they can envision. Unfortunately it only takes a few creepy videos of the types who enjoy live feeding snakes "a little too much" for them to make these assumptions. A special thanks to all the really dumb horror movies too.

Most folks aren't vegetarians either, but that's somehow different than us feeding our reptiles. We always have to remember just how much prejudice & hatred exists towards snakes & other reptiles, & when people hate or fear something, they close their minds to what the animal is actually like. That carries over to those keeping them. Our language reinforces these stereotypes. "Cold-blooded", "reptilian" or "snake" (in the grass) are very common insults.