This is a little lengthy but this is a copy of the email I sent to
[email protected].
I'm unsure who will get this but I'm emailing in regards to a recent "photo" and comments regarding a Burmese python eating a "dog" and the writers comments about snake owners and behaviors of them.
In short, the picture is a fake and snake owners are no different than other pet owners, such as those who keep dogs or cats. I Personally I have snakes and a dog. Both are treated fairly and both given appropriate attention and time (and food).
For anyone to generalize a class of people based on a photo is foolish. For anyone to take an old pictures (a fake one a that) and make preposterous comments is ridiculous. For anyone to say that snake owners love to give their animals kittens and watch them (the kittens) cry as they are suffocated is demented in their own thinking. For anyone to say that the snake CRUSHED the babies skull so it could consume it, is ignorant. (As was the owner who assumed their pet was beyond normal animalistic behaviors)
All the comments in the article are inaccurate to some degree. And those who want to comment on the article can only comment if you want to say something negative.
People need to get their head on straight, understand what they are talking about, educate themselves, know the real facts. Know who the real killers are, know where the real threats are, KNOW who is to blame. Killers come in many forms, snakes are not one of them. The fact is, most human deaths caused by animals comes from human error and the beloved DOG. Human deaths from non venomous snakes are few and far between. As for people mistreating animals or giving their snake animals (food) they should not, sure, just like you have others who use their dogs to fight to the death. Your going to have a few bad eggs in any aspect of any subject. A dog kills a person, bites them to death, maybe even eats a few chunks, as bad as that is, it's a reality, it happens, the only difference between that and a human killed by a snake, is the amount of press. Sure, the snake does have the ability to possibly eat a very small human / baby. A dog may only eat part, either way, more humans / babies are killed by dog, by far, than snakes and any human killed by a snake will have more press, why, because IT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN VERY OFTEN. I'm sure if you look at the statistics, more people have died from dogs in a one year period than by snake in a 20 or 30 or even a 40 year period.
The laws against snakes are unfair, unjust and unnecessary. Non domestic snakes let loose will not survive long. Procreation would be difficult because there a few of the same species in the same area and the environment is not conducive to their normal breeding cycle. Prohibiting snakes simply means people will have them against the law, and then, when all else fails, the person will either terminate the snake's life or let it go, because the law will not let him / her sell it. The law will encourage what it's trying to discourage, snakes in the wild. Think about it !
Sincerely,
Keith Stambaugh