FWC Officers Euthanize Pet Boa and 34 other Snakes

FWC Officers Euthanize Boa and 34 other Snakes Contact Governor DeSantis 850-717-9337 @ Contact the Governor and tell him to ask for the resignation of FWC leadership and to immediately end the killing of captive animals by FWC. FWC Officers Euthanize Boa and 34 other Snakes on Holy Thursday FWC officers showed up unannounced at a reptile facility and killed 34 pythons and one pregnant Boa constrictor. The pet Boa was misidentified as a python and, according to its owner, Bill McAdam, executed via “nail gun to the head“ (likely a bolt gun) by four FWC officers. The officers also killed 29 Reticulated pythons and five Burmese pythons owned by Chris Coffee. Under prior directive from FWC, Coffee was forced to maintain the snakes in captivity for over a year since a deadline had passed to rehome the animals. Coffee had a large collection of pythons, which were possessed legally with a “Conditional Species“ permit before FWC passed “Prohibited Species“ rules in 2021. The pythons were microchipped in accordance with FWC regulations. Coffee’s animals should have been grandfathered. Nonetheless, after the rules banning the snakes were passed, Coffee chose to rehome 120 of his pythons, but he was unable to disperse all of his collection before an FWC deadline. He called to inform FWC that he still had some pythons for which he had not been able to find new homes and asked FWC for more time. FWC responded by raiding Coffee’s facility, arresting him, and issuing him two charges for each Retic and Burm possesed, for a total of 72 criminal charges. Rather than seize the animals, FWC officers told Coffee to continue to keep the snakes in captivity and that he could not rehome or euthanize them or he would be arrested again. Coffee’s life has been turned upside down and he is still on probation as a result of these charges. Coffee’s pythons were maintained at the facility of McAdam with FWC’s knowledge of their whereabouts for a year, until FWC’s raid and subsequent massacre on Thursday. On that date, coinciding with the observance of Passover and Holy Thursday, FWC officers Lex Corteguera, Jonathon Wright, Zach Beppel, and Christopher Ryan showed up to the facility. The device used to kill the snakes was likely a device called a “penetrating captive bolt.“ When it was all done, they had killed 29 Retics and five Burms, in addition to the Boa. Boas are legal to own in Florida and are among the most popular pet snakes. This Boa was 10 years old and raised from a baby by McAdam. Regardless of how you may feel about snakes, these were innocent, healthy animals and there were many alternatives to this unwarranted butchery. Imagine if these were dogs, goats, or horses. Would you be infuriated then? USARK Florida is calling on Governor DeSantis to hold FWC accountable by asking for the resignation of the FWC employee who gave the unjust order for these snakes to be brutally killed without cause. Further, USARK Florida respectfully requests that the Governor replace current staff leadership with new leadership, capable of focusing agency resources on Florida’s true wildlife issues, including but not limited to excessive mortality of wild Manatees, Florida panthers, Gopher tortoises, and Diamondback terrapins, as well as address water and habitat quality issues caused by FWC’s extensive herbicide spraying program. Furthermore, we ask that FWC suspend its seizure and killing of animals as well as prosecution of animal owners for “Prohibited Species,“ until USARK Florida’s lawsuit challenging the validity and constitutionality of these draconian rules is resolved. FWC Commissioners and staff promised that animal owners would be able to continue to keep their pets, which has proven over and over to not be true. Join USARK FL! Donate to USARK Florida: CashApp $usarkfl PayPal info@ Credit card  @USARKFlorida on Instagram USARK Florida on Facebook USARK Florida on YouTube @usarkflorida2970 @usarkflorida2970 Check out USARK (National): @usark_official