![]() 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. On Thursday, Coffee said he was called by FWC officers about the reticulated python sighting. 6 after Coffee was accepted into a misdemeanor diversion program and paid $250 to buy out community service hours. ![]() 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.Ĭoffee 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.īroward County court records show the case was dismissed Feb. "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.īut 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. 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 statement said the FWC did not have any intention of killing the snakes in the Broward warehouse, which is rented by Coffee and McAdam. Reticulated pythons are also invasive species prohibited in Florida because of the damage they do to native wildlife. Help sought to kill the ones that are hidingĬhicken of the Glades: Can we eat pythons? Mercury levels studied to see if snakes could be the new other white meatįWC said in a statement that it went to the Broward warehouse because there had been a report of a reticulated python in the area. Snake hunters catch 95% of pythons they see. Viral video of python that swallowed gator opens doors for scientist-slash-freedive model I told them, 'You guys are going to pay for this.'” ![]() “I raised that boa since it was a baby,” McAdam said. ![]() McAdam estimates the babies were worth about $3,500 each. “How? I reminded you 10 times!” Coffee exclaims.Īn autopsy on Big Shirl found she was pregnant with 32 babies, according to a spokesman for the reptile keepers group. “Oh my God! Why?” Coffee can be heard yelling in the background of the video when officers say the “boa is dead.” 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. ![]() What seems clear is the death of the boa, not among the species in dispute, was a tragic error. Video captures shock, anger in apparent wrongful death of a boa "I don't like that they shot them in the head," said Coffee, who witnessed the first death before leaving the room. 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. Boa constrictors such as Big Shirl, who McAdam owned for more than a decade, are not on the list of prohibited species.įWC 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. Commercial breeders were given about five months to get rid of their animals. 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. 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.īill 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. ![]()
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