Where did all these snakes come from? Last week in Mission, police discovered nearly 50 illegal pythons in a house only a couple of blocks from a local school. The cache of snakes was unearthed during the owner鈥檚 eviction from the house.
In an unsettling coincidence, the 46 illegal Mission snakes were seized on the same day that 40 (legal) pythons were found in a motel room in Ontario. Their owners were trying to sell them before they moved to Calgary, also as a result of an eviction.
Snakes have been in the national spotlight for weeks, since two young brothers in New Brunswick were killed by an illegal African rock python that escaped from its enclosure in an apartment above a pet shop.
The tragedy has stuck with us because of its senselessness: The four-metre, 45-kilogram snake escaped through a hole in its enclosure, which was not in the pet shop downstairs as originally reported, but in the apartment itself. It happened upon the boys, who were having a sleepover with the pet-shop owner鈥檚 son, and asphyxiated them, perhaps after mistaking them for its natural prey.
Much of the ensuing conversation has focused on the preventability of the boys鈥� deaths, for it seems clear that the tragedy was caused by human error.
According to New Brunswick鈥檚 Department of Natural Resources, African rock pythons are illegal in the province unless the owner has a permit. Permits are granted to zoos, but not to those who intend to keep exotic animals as pets, and the snake鈥檚 owner did not have a permit.
Unfortunately, the possession of exotic species in Canada is governed by a complicated mishmash of provincial regulations and municipal bylaws. Many experts are pointing out that as a result, the illegal animal trade in Canada is robust, especially when it comes to exotic reptiles.
Why pythons? Why do we feel the need to keep pythons as pets?
We have dogs and cats and rabbits and guinea pigs and hamsters and gerbils and rats and mice and ferrets and parakeets and parrots and cockatiels and lovebirds and fish and turtles and all manner of barnyard animals, not to mention a vast array of non-venomous, non-dangerous frogs and lizards and snakes. Is that not enough choice for us? Do we need 鈥� nay, deserve 鈥� mastery over all beasts? Are we so entitled that 鈥渢hat animal is cool and I want one鈥� is a more powerful impulse than the thought of: 鈥淗mm, that animal is dangerous and perhaps not appropriate for my living situation鈥�?
I think snakes are cool, but we鈥檝e got zoos and YouTube, so I鈥檓 not sure that there鈥檚 any reason dangerous animals should be available as pets.
All animals are potentially dangerous 鈥� even domesticated ones. Both my cats have sharp claws and have done painful things to me with those claws when startled or while playing. But there鈥檚 a big difference between potentially dangerous and actually dangerous.
All pitbulls are potentially dangerous, because all dogs are potentially dangerous. Pitbulls that have been trained to be aggressive are actually dangerous.
But pythons aren鈥檛 dangerous because they鈥檙e aggressive, bloodthirsty killers (they鈥檙e actually shy, lurking, opportunistic predators, according to Bry Loyst, curator of the Indian River Reptile Zoo in Ontario). No, they鈥檙e dangerous because they鈥檙e big, heavy carnivores that cannot be domesticated and cannot tell the difference between dinner and 鈥淢aster.鈥�
In B.C., the purchase of exotic animals has been curtailed, but it鈥檚 still easy to buy reptiles online from American sellers.
I imagine that responsible snake owners in B.C. are shaking their fists at the snake owner in Mission, whose illegal reticulated pythons were immediately destroyed.
That makes me sad, because these snakes had done nothing wrong. (Not being creatures with, you know, the capacity for morality, snakes aren鈥檛 able to do wrong.) They paid for their owner鈥檚 irresponsibility, as well as this idea we have that if we like a thing, we should be able to own that thing.
The prominence of illegal snakes in the headlines this August is reminding us of what we鈥檝e always known: Dangerous animals aren鈥檛 dangerous because they鈥檙e bloodthirsty killers, but because we lack common sense. When we forget that, we鈥檙e not only putting other people in danger, but the animals as well.
