Snakes seized in Perth to be put down

[News Bot]

WILDLIFE officers have seized a milk snake, king snake, boa constrictor and carpet python from a residence in Perth's southern suburbs.

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Published On: 09-Aug-12 06:25 PM
Source: via NEWS.com.au

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[Lizzy90]

I just read that article too. Shame animals have to be put down due to the stupidity of humans.

 

[PMyers]

I like the bullshit reason they give for killing the boa... fear of IBD, which can lie dormant for twelve months, and they lack the facility and resources to quarantine for that long. They have, however, magically conjured up the facilities and resources to quarantine the carpet (which, if IBD was an issue with the boa, the carpet would now likely be carrying). Why don't they simply call a spade a frigging spade, and state that it's going to be killed off because it's a typical knee-jerk reaction to finding an exotic reptile?
Quarantine for eighteen months, then if it proves disease free, give it to a frigging zoo!

 

[Hamalicious]

The problem isnt holding that snake in quarantine for 12-18 months, they would be finding hundreds of introduced reptiles every year which would all need to be quarantined and then found a home. So the problem isnt the DEC putting it down, its the low lifes who bring them here to make a quick buck and the people who insist on keeping them despite the obvious risks to the health of our native flora and fauna. Is it really worth risking the health of Australia's native wild life just so a few idiots can have a non native species snake? i dont think so.

 

[Snowman]

They probably have as much chance of carrying disease as any other pet snake. If they were really worried about disease then te carpet would get euthanized as well.
There are plenty of exotics in Australia that are disease free.

 

[MrsDragonLady]

not a constructive comment but:
**** doesn't just happen - people make it happen.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

I wonder if they got their IDs right... I remember (then) CALM officers excitedly describing the discovery of an "Iguana" somewhere in Perth, then finding, to their great disappointment, that it was an Eastern Water Dragon ! AS I understand it, there are many exotic species in Oz which have been bred through many generations, Boas being just one of them. I expect that the only Boas worth risking your neck for these days would be any new morphs which are bred overseas, same as the various Carpet Python morphs which suddenly (and spontaneously ) seem to be bred here just a year or two after they turn up in Europe or the USA...

Call me a cynic if you will !

Jamie

 

[-Peter]

Zoos already euthanaise their excess exotics. Why would they bother taking something with no history?

 

[zulu]

Definetly be quarantining then donating them to a park, the boas and kings snakes etc in australia are multi generation captive bred animals in most cases,they would more likely be at risk from the CALMs scrubbed reptiles.
T

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Zoos already euthanaise their excess exotics. Why would they bother taking something with no history?

Yes they do - I remember getting 3 Boas from the Perth Zoo when I was managing live exhibits at the WA Museum, and from that litter of 46, about 40 were euthanased. Stupidly, the pair was kept together for another year, and the 64 babies that resulted from later matings were also euthanased. Like many exotics, they're in oversupply in Australian institutions, and the surplus has nowhere to go, so they get the chop...

Jamie

 

[Gruni]

Surely the person caught has nothing to gain by not telling them if it was Australian bred or smuggled in. But it wouldn't really change anything. I would hope they would allow people to adopt the natives if they are prepared to pay the freight to get them where they are covered by a license. EG if a python were found in Tas and someone in Vic wanted it.

 

[RepifilmzTV]

If they want to keep these snakes soo bad then why dont they move over there, and put a end to having these beautiful animals euthanized :/

 

[moosenoose]

You don't get caught by simply having exotics. This dumbass has probably been done for drugs or some other matter (I haven't read the article). Only licensed people get caught :lol:

 

[Snowman]

Reptile keeping was only legalised in WA 10 years ago. I personally think that because it was illegal for so long that there must be hundreds of exotics in this state. If you kept reptiles as pets (in WA) in the 70s, 80s,90s you were a criminal (unless you had a study license or such). So all the pet snakes were underground. If your going to have off license snakes you may as well have exotics so they dont charge you with posession of native wildlife as well. I think if WA wasnt so ridiculous with their reptile licensing there would be less exotics and illegal reptiles in this state. We cant even keep rough scaled pythons, despite the fact they are only found in WA, yet the rest of Australia keeps them. Same with quite a number of species endemic to WA. Every year since I have been in WA I have seen exotics handed in or siezed in the news. I doubt it will ever stop.

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

Getting tired of hearing about the threat to our native fauna regarding exotic reptiles. If this is the big issue why are so many native animals slaughtered every year or habitats destroyed in the name of development projects.