Yesterday when I was talking to one of my friends she told me a typical story about animal control I thought I would share. Animal Control called her to ask what they should do with a six foot Bearded Dragon. She told them to bring it to her. They then asked why? She said that if it truly is a Bearded Dragon she wanted it because Bearded Dragons do not get that big. Then she explained to them that what they have is an Iguana that had escaped from it's enclosure and if they could not find the owner of the Iguana to bring it to her and she would take care of it. I hope all turns out okay for the animal.

I can't stand stuff like that. There was a story a few days ago of a guy that found a 6' snake in the road. He thought it was going to hurt the neighboring children, so instead of calling Animal Control, he decided to run it over ten times. Only it didn't die. He got out to check it and it started striking at his car. He said that was reason enough to call the cops and have it shot in the head. Then they told everyone it was a Burmese that would've reached up to like 20' and would've eventually killed someone. I looked at the pic and it was a full grown male Red Tail Boa.

__________________
~Christi
1.0 Red Ear Slider: Mikey
1.0 Het for Albino Red Tail Boa Constrictor: Kaa
0.0.1 Northern Blue Tongue Skink: Petri
1.0 American Staffordshire Terrier/Lab: Brutus
1.0 German Shepherd: Pax
1.0 Husband: Will
“Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures.”——His Holiness The Dalai Lama

OMG! Those poor animals! I hope they bring the Iguana to your friend. And it irritates me that this guy can torture a snake to death and not be punished for it! I mean jeez, you run over me 10 times and if I survived, I'd be striking too! He has a right to defend himself; he should have the legal right to defend himself, too.

__________________
~Marne &
Vir, Lenier, G'Kar, Delenn FBTs
Pepper, Mei-Mei, Cheel, Earnie Anselm, Johan, Eva, Dexter, Sebastian, Cheeko and Aneka, chins
Sweet William, Calendula and Clover, house rabbits
Petit LaoTzu and Aristophanes, budgies
Clark, Methuselah, Johnny, Jack and Patch, rats

Wow, the Animal Control Officer in my city is friends with me and my father and if he doesn't know what to do with something or what species something is he'll bring it to my house. And then he either gives it to me to relocate, care for, or find a new home for, or he relocates or finds it a new home. One time he brought me a snake and jug and told me that the lady whose basement they got it out of was dead set it was venomous and didn't believe the Animal Control Officer who told her there are no venomous snakes native to our city and wouldn't let them release it near her house because it'd kill someone. Well, the snake turned out to a little Eastern Milksnake, and I told my the Animal Control Officer to tell the lady that it's not a venomous species and actually eats venomous species of snake (EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE NONE!!), so if she doesn't want venomous snakes coming near her house she should release it in her yard. He called my father later to tell me it worked and to thank me lol.

__________________
"Reality is wrong, Dreams are for real"
-Tupac Shakur

0.2.1 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Corn Snake
0.3.0 Green Frogs
0.0.1 Eastern Garter Snake
0.0.1 Green Tree Frog
1.0.0 White's Tree Frog

Even though not common there are venomous snakes in Massachusetts.
From Reality

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

This is why I do not support any animal groups. Most don't even know about reptiles and some are trying to take my right to own them away.

I know there are, the Timber Rattlesnake and the Copperhead, but they are critically endanged in this state and are only found in the western part of the state in isolated pockets. So it's really unlikely for one to be on the eastern side of the state near Boston, although it's not impossible.

__________________
"Reality is wrong, Dreams are for real"
-Tupac Shakur

0.2.1 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Corn Snake
0.3.0 Green Frogs
0.0.1 Eastern Garter Snake
0.0.1 Green Tree Frog
1.0.0 White's Tree Frog

That was my point. Though unlikely, it is possible to have them show up.
Thinking that it is impossible might end up getting someone bitten through carelessness.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I understand and agree.
However most animal control officers, at least around here, are city/county employees and really have nothing to do with the activist organizations who are trying to cram their views down our throats. They just enforce the local laws that they are given and their training, what they get of it, is centered around rounding up stray, or problem, dogs and cats.
Consider that the widespread keeping of exotic reptiles is a fairly new development over the last 20 years or so. Finding wandering herps is not something that was a problem before and some of the training is lagging behind the times.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I typically don't think much of Animal Control either. Sometimes they can be the only solution, though. I just have personally had bad experiences with them, for the same reasons I think everyone else had. They (for the most part) don't really care about the animals. If you call about strays, they don't want to come and pick them up, they want to manipulate you into saying something that "proves" you are responsible for the animals, and if you don't feed/vet them they want to make it a punishable offense. If you call about obvious abuse of an animal, they do nothing until it's practically too late to help.

But that might just be things that happen around this area. And I realize you really are supposed to call Animal Control for animal related problems, and sometimes they do take care of things quickly and correctly. I guess it depends on who's taking your call or what area you live in.

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.