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Ignorant Laws
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by Jestikal on January 27, 2010
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This is mostly just a rant but I thought I would share it with like minded people.
I'm a college student attending the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Mo. Yesterday I was in my apartment watching a movie when one of the other guys that live there yelled to me "The cops are here." I went to go see what they wanted, figuring that one of the other guys I live with had done something stupid or that they were investigating some college related crime.
As soon as I walked out of my room I saw 6 police officers as well as the city animal control officer. They had apparently had a report of my venomous snakes and came to enforce public safety.
The whole thing is ridiculous, as I only have 2 juvenile Squams in a vivarium style display cage which is combo locked shut at all times. I have all the necessary safety equipment and only interact with them when I need to move them, feed them, or on rare occasions maintain their enclosure.
The ignorant police decided they were deadly and a threat to public safety even though they were locked up and easily the most passive venomous that I have worked with. I know that there have been reported deaths do to squams but that seems fairly uncommon and the police certainly did not know that. Not once have mine seemed aggressive in the least. I haven't even seen them strike aside from taking a food item.
Luckily the police were civil and at least let me explain to them what they were and that they were in no way a public menace. Even though I demonstrated the competence required to keep them as well as give them a little herpetology lesson they said I had to get them out of town immediately. (My violation is a city ordnance from a town with less than 20k people in it, It is not against the law to keep venomous in MO)
I had the snakes in one of the large exoterra style cages so I had to move them to a smaller and less fragile container to take them to my parent’s house which is out in the country and free from ignorant municipal ordinances. The animal control guy, who repeatedly displayed his complete lack of knowledge on the whole matter, had come with a set of gargantuan snake tongs that you might use in a rattler round up but would undoubtedly crush my small squams and destroy my vivarium in the process. So I used my snake hook with another close at hand just on the off chance they might try to run up the hook. They didn't try anything of the sort though; they just sat there happily perched at the end of the hook as I put them in the large plastic jar for the ride home. The police then escorted me out of town just to “make sure I didn’t go somewhere to hide them.” They let me off with just a warning and issued it on a standard traffic violation ticket under the offense of “possession of exotic animals.” Needless to say I won’t be bringing them back.
It wasn’t really the police that bothered me. Most of them were nice and seemed pretty interested in learning a little about the snakes and felt bad for making me get rid of them. As usual there was at least one cop who was obnoxious and made a few dumb comments. When I told the animal control guy that is tongs wouldn’t work and that I needed to move them to a better container to take them home safely the cop said something like “ We don’t need those, I have a shotgun that would solve this problem real quick.” I also asked the animal control guy if he would give me to the end of the week to get rid of them, as it was the middle of the week and I had school work I needed to get done, but he said “I just couldn’t sleep well at night knowing that those are here and could hurt someone.” I more or less just found that funny as I had been sleeping in the same room with them for about 6 months and was not once afraid for my safety. By far the main reason this whole thing bothered me was that I had to give up my rights and animals just because some small town people who have no real knowledge of them decided it was in my best interests to do so. It just gripes me that people make laws just to make them and the very few that they affect would be better off without them. The whole reason there were 6 cops in my house was not because it was such a huge threat but because they had never had a report of something like this and they all just wanted to come check it out. They even took pictures of my snakes so they could put them on their facebook page showing what a great job they were doing for their community.
That’s the end of my rant and I’m sorry it’s so long. Also, please don’t flame me too bad. I know I was breaking the law but, all in all, I at least was able to educate them a little and show them that the snakes were not the biting killing machines they apparently thought they were.
All the best,
Jesse
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RE: Ignorant Laws
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by tigers9 on January 27, 2010
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jesse, I hate stupid laws more than anybody else, being a political refugee from communism, but you need to follow current laws and be responsible (and try to change/correct/reverse them later, hopefully).
However MO state has many years old , almost ancient, revised statutes, that don't seem to be enforced too mcuh, but it is still a law, where u r supposed to locally register your predatory/dangerous/venomous animal, see here:
http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C500-599/5780000023.HTM
Missouri Revised Statutes
Chapter 578
Miscellaneous Offenses
Section 578.023
August 28, 2009
Keeper of dangerous wild animals must register animals, exceptions--penalty.
578.023. 1. No person may keep any lion, tiger, leopard, ocelot, jaguar, cheetah, margay, mountain lion, Canada lynx, bobcat, jaguarundi, hyena, wolf, bear, nonhuman primate, coyote, any deadly, dangerous, or poisonous reptile, or any deadly or dangerous reptile over eight feet long, in any place other than a properly maintained zoological park, circus, scientific, or educational institution, research laboratory, veterinary hospital, or animal refuge, unless such person has registered such animals with the local law enforcement agency in the county in which the animal is kept.
2. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a class C misdemeanor.
(L. 1983 S.B. 211 § 9, A.L. 2001 S.B. 462)
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RE: Ignorant Laws
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by FSB on January 28, 2010
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Laws are laws, Jesse, and a venomous snake is a venomous snake, whether it's a bush viper or a bushmaster. One thing that really troubles me is the idea of keeping any species of venomous snake in an apartment, especially one that is shared with other people, and especially with people who, as you indicate, may have a predisposition to do "something stupid." What are you studying in college? If it`s biology or herp-related, you could have perhaps checked with your advisor or someone to see if there is a secure animal room or lab on campus where you could keep them locked up. I kept venomous snakes and crocodilians this way in college when I didn't have an appropriate place at home to keep them. Since I also helped to look after the rodent colony, I enjoyed the bonus of free food. Sorry you had to learn the hard way, but all-in-all it sounds like they let you off pretty easy.
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RE: Ignorant Laws
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by pictigaster1 on January 28, 2010
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Sounds like they were very nice. It could of been a front page disaster. Never keep hots in a apartment.Very little is known about the bite of a squam. Not much info on there bites from there natural range there could of been a few deaths.I personaly think they could deliver a deadly bite.There is no antivenom.This is in fact the wrong place to get sympathy I have none for you at all and you were able to keep the snakes.As well as your discription of them as a small snake that was not dangerious tells me you may need to do a little more research befor keeping any more.Your actions reflect on us all
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RE: Ignorant Laws
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by pictigaster1 on January 28, 2010
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Take as many precautions as possible. If you are unable to provide all the necessary safety precautions and tools, then you are not ready for the snake. Never get complacent.This is from your profile an apartment is not the proper safty precaution.
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RE: Ignorant Laws
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by SteveSLHS on January 29, 2010
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The Missouri State law requires you to register with your local city or county law enforcement. However, most cities and counties in Missouri have their own ordinances when it comes to exotics and venomous. Most of these ordinances are more strict than the state requirements and some ban them period. I agree with an earlier post, be happy they let you keep your squams. Your local animal control could have made this a media event for the 10 O'clock news. You got off very easy.
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