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Info Courtney & George Schertler - Retic Owners Watch Puppy Being Eaten and Posts Pics

ShadowAceD

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I honestly do not even know what to say while I am posting this.

On 19 June 2013, I was contacted by Chris Canada-Smith who asked me if I had seen a photo posted from Courtney Schertler's account in the Boa Constrictor Keepers Group on Facebook where a puppy was being consumed by a reticulated python.

I told him I had not seen it and I doubt it really existed because there is no way that people would not be raising a stink in the group about it.

Courtney is one of those people who posts things and people jump on their case all of the time because their husbandry practices are questionable (they house a retic and a boa constrictor in a room together) and she often showed photos of her retic near an APBT type puppy. They have been chewed out on numerous occasions for this and people have attempted to educate them but because the posts tend to become volatile in the Boa Constrictors Keepers Group, they are often deleted by the moderators.

Either way, without proof, we both kind of let it go.

Later on that evening, Addie Padgett contacted me as well and asked me the same question as she had heard this photo had been posted in the group. Once again, I said no and I had my doubts it really happened.

Curiosity got the better of me though.

Addie pointed me to a post on Courtney's FB profile with a small puppy named Porche and "R.I.P". I asked them what happened to the dog. I had expected to hear the puppy had passed away due to parvovirus or something similar and in the back of my mind I had hoped maybe they had fed the puppy to the retic following its death. This would still be awful, but not as bad as the thought of someone watching a retic snake up their puppy and take photos of it being devoured.

I am disgusted to state that I was very wrong in this assumption.

(attachments are included as well as screen shots)

Due to mass deletion by them (I have been blocked from their page) and the moderators on groups, I have limited photos to provide.

Understand, the photo of Porche being consumed has been removed form Facebook before anyone got a screen shot of it, but the guilt is admitted to and the fact that I do not have that photo is the only reason this is not a Bad Guy Thread.

The conversation between me, George and Courtney.
Courtney_zpse2b11bbd.jpg


The retic and boa living together.
Cohabing_zpsd80c6ad3.jpg


Proof that the retic and puppy were allowed to get near one another and hardly supervised. There were photos of the puppy being near the retics face, but I was unable to retrieve these.
Porche_zps2fb49603.jpg


So, there you have it. Porche died and no remorse is felt because it's a free country and because retics eat rabbits.

These people should not be owning any animals much less be buying from anyone else. Please, do not sell to these people. They are the poster children of why our ability to keep these animals is questioned, scrutinized and under direct attack.

Knowing things like this happen and not speaking out against it is just as bad and I could not, in good conscience, fail to inform the community of these people.
 

Attachments

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  • Porche.jpg
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  • Cohabing.jpg
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A slight clarification, it was not posted on boa constrictor keepers but was posted on the large constrictor keepers fb group.
 
im probably going to get flamed for this but whilst its unfortunate it was someones pet it always amazes me how much people value a kittens/puppies life over that of a rat or a mouse. They are all intelligent creatures yet it is ok to feed one type and not the other.
 
im probably going to get flamed for this but whilst its unfortunate it was someones pet it always amazes me how much people value a kittens/puppies life over that of a rat or a mouse. They are all intelligent creatures yet it is ok to feed one type and not the other.

Cattle, Chicken, Goats, Sheep ... we raise them as livestock and they are social and intelligent creatures in some regard. Rats and rabbits are livestock raised for other animals to consume as well.

I have kept rats as pets, they are highly intelligent animals, but they have been used as a form of livestock of various purpose for years. There is a difference.

Cats and dogs, in the Western World, are not food items. It's a morality issue and a responsibility issue. Justifying the death of this dog and the posting of its demise on a public network by likening it to slaughter animals is ignoring the bigger issue.

If that animal was allowed to roam around and get to a puppy what other irresponsible damage could occur?

We have legislators and lobbyists breathing down our necks waiting for the stereotypes to ring true and one of the stereotypes is that constrictor owners feed off puppies and kittens to their snakes. So this is an okay image to you just because there is a distinct difference between livestock and kept animals?
 
im probably going to get flamed for this but whilst its unfortunate it was someones pet it always amazes me how much people value a kittens/puppies life over that of a rat or a mouse. They are all intelligent creatures yet it is ok to feed one type and not the other.

Rats, mice & rabbits are raised and bred as feeder animals; like chickens, cows & pigs ... cats & dogs are bred as pets, strictly as pets. No where in the US is it acceptable to feed dogs and cats to a reptile.

Those owners need not be owners, if they have children ... they may be next in the news, for it is irresponsible actions such as this one, that leads to worse.
 
Im not saying posting a picture was the best thing to do as it obviously wasnt, but it does seem as this was an unfortunate accident.

But I think saying someone shouldnt keep animals because of an accident is a bit harsh.
 
Im not saying posting a picture was the best thing to do as it obviously wasnt, but it does seem as this was an unfortunate accident.

But I think saying someone shouldnt keep animals because of an accident is a bit harsh.

That was an accident that should have never happened. They were warned that this same situation could happen. This accident could have been avoided if they had taken the advice of other keepers. IMO, they set that puppy up to die, by having it around the reticent all the time ... the puppy didn't realize that the snake would eat it.
 
Im not saying posting a picture was the best thing to do as it obviously wasnt, but it does seem as this was an unfortunate accident.

But I think saying someone shouldnt keep animals because of an accident is a bit harsh.

Harsh?

As stated before, they were warned multiple times about letting that dog get in that retic's face. They were asked, repeatedly, to be more responsible about it and people tried to educate them on how to properly deal with these animals.

This is not simply an accident, this is blatant neglect that shows that someone is incapable of properly maintaining barriers and attention to a large instinct driven animal that has the ability to bring serious harm to some one or some thing.

Do I need to go over the screwed up psychology in taking a photo of this pet being killed and devoured and the POSTING it on Facebook again?

People who harm animals on purpose are assumed psychopaths but somehow this guy taking photos of this event and sharing it with the world is part of "just an accident"? No.

They have no business owning these animals.
 
Obviously I dont know the back story, but going from the screenshots they said the puppy was in the backyard and had gotten out.

Yes there was obviously a problem with how secure the back yard was, sometimes you do not know this until it is too late. We had a jack russell puppy that always got out and too this day we cant work out how.

If they lied and it was never in the backyard then im all with you but if they didn't then im going to stick with it being an unfortunate accident
 
Obviously I dont know the back story, but going from the screenshots they said the puppy was in the backyard and had gotten out.

Yes there was obviously a problem with how secure the back yard was, sometimes you do not know this until it is too late. We had a jack russell puppy that always got out and too this day we cant work out how.

If they lied and it was never in the backyard then im all with you but if they didn't then im going to stick with it being an unfortunate accident

You are still missing the point.

This dog was constricted, killed and eaten. And PHOTOS were taken of this event to DOCUMENT it and then POSTED on Facebook.

This is not some simple mindless accident involving a series of unfortunate events.
 
No I have already said that posting a photo on facebook obviously wasnt the best course of action.

But taking a photo of something after the fact (as a strike on that puppy from a large snake more then like broke its neck straight off) doesn't suddenly stop it being an accident.
 
No I have already said that posting a photo on facebook obviously wasnt the best course of action.

But taking a photo of something after the fact (as a strike on that puppy from a large snake more then like broke its neck straight off) doesn't suddenly stop it being an accident.

You must have never seen a large constrictor grab a prey item. It takes minutes for the animal to die. A neck snapping from just the action of biting and constrictor is not common.

The act of constriction is this - seizing an item and coiling it up, as the prey item takes a breath, the coils tighten until the prey item is no longer able to breathe. Constrictors do not just grab onto prey items and squeeze them forcibly. It's a cause and effect situation.
 
No I have already said that posting a photo on facebook obviously wasnt the best course of action.

But taking a photo of something after the fact (as a strike on that puppy from a large snake more then like broke its neck straight off) doesn't suddenly stop it being an accident.

You know what, explain to me something, since you seem so adamant that I am being too harsh in my judgment of these people who showed absolutely no remorse or care that their puppy was snatched up and eaten by a retic.

How many accidents should someone be afforded before it is clearly obvious that they are incapable of properly caring for and maintaining a powerful animal such as this retic?

What exactly needs to occur for them to be irresponsible pet owners that should have that privilege revoked?
 
You must have never seen a large constrictor grab a prey item. It takes minutes for the animal to die. A neck snapping from just the action of biting and constrictor is not common.

The act of constriction is this - seizing an item and coiling it up, as the prey item takes a breath, the coils tighten until the prey item is no longer able to breathe. Constrictors do not just grab onto prey items and squeeze them forcibly. It's a cause and effect situation.

Not a large constrictor no. We don't tend to feed live over here unless its life or death.

I have however seen a royal python strike a live mouse and kill it instantly.

But even so, I do understand your point about posting the photos and have said so twice. For all the other, we are just going to have to be happy having different points of view :)
 
That puppy most likely felt its ribs snap and its shoulders pop out before it passed. Instead of showing shock and remorse over the "accident" you're defending, they grab a camera?! Then in true inbred fashion... They post it to face book. But let's be understanding Diem!
It doesn't matter that the short bus is squishing all the healty children! You can't talk bad bout the short bus! My God! Being understanding to the point of being apathetic is wrong. It's foolish. Understanding that something is bad, or how it came to be bad IN NO WAY LESSENS THE FACT THAT IT IS BAD.
 
Akin to the devil? Try willfully ignorant. Much more reality based and equally as undesirable. I can assure you this didn't "just happen".
 
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