"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 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. More: X-ray image shows python, and its tracking transmitter, eaten by another snake in Florida Response to reticulated python reportįWC said in a statement that it went to the warehouse because there had been a report of a reticulated python in the area. 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. Snake hunters swarm 'Florida Python Challenge': Top photos of annual 'removal competition' Video captures apparent wrongful death of a boa Watch: This is one way to stop traffic! Massive 15-foot-long python blocks entire Florida road. "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. McAdam owned his pet boa constrictor, named Big Shirl, for more than a decade.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 that was mistakenly killed. Pythons are a damaging invasive species that eat almost anything and have overrun the Everglades. After the reptile was added to a list of prohibited species by FWC commissioners in February 2021, commercial breeders were given about five months to get rid of their animals.īoa constrictors are not on the list of prohibited species. Florida wildlife officers killed dozens of caged pythons, and one pet boa constrictor by mistake, in what some reptile enthusiasts say was an overreach of authority last week.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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