ReptileMan27

[Snakes Incorporated]

Drug raid snares snake 

WILDLIFE officers seized an exotic albino corn snake from a Berwick house last week.

The one-metre snake, native to North America, was discovered after police executed a search warrant on the property on Tuesday.

Several cannabis plants were also seized during the raid.

Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) officers were called to the scene to secure the non-venomous snake.

DSE Senior Investigator Glenn Sharp said exotic reptiles posed a real threat to Victoria’s environment.

“These snakes breed like rabbits, and they thrive in most conditions,” he said.

“Corn snakes could easily establish viable breeding populations in Victoria if they were to escape from captivity or were intentionally released into the wild.

“They would then prey on Australia’s ground-dwelling marsupials and small birds, damaging these populations and providing direct competition to Australian reptiles,” he said.

Mr Sharp said corn snakes were a popular pet in the USA, but were often found in captivity in Australia. “In the past seven years we’ve seized about 70 corn snakes across Victoria, and we believe this is the tip of the iceberg.”

A 33-year-old Somer-ville woman is assisting police with their investigations.

http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/43859
 

[Snakeman]

Another questionable media beat up.
Yes, it makes sense for Corn snakes to be banned due to potential threats.
So far so good!
BUT DSE and Sharp are misrepresenting the truth (as he commonly does) in that DSE actually allow and support the keeping of exotic reptiles in Victoria and more importantly ACTIVELY PROMOTE the trade in them.
Yes, they allow a select few zoos AND private people to keep and trade these reptiles and more importantly they in turn let people touch and hold the animals (as proof that they are "better" than the more commonly seen local snakes, that law abiding demonstrators like my company are forced to use for the same "interactive" displays.
The end result is a massive fueling of the demand for Corn snakes.
Now if Sharp was fair dinkum, which he is not, he'd be stopping his close friends at Melbourne zoo from letting people touch these claimed to be "superior" snakes on a daily basis and because the Melbourne Zoo has no sensible purpose in having the snakes, they too would be forced to get rid of them, in the same way that other law abiding keepers are.

PS - Heard the news story this week aboout the Rattlesnake that escaped from a US Zoo and nearly bit a 2 year old (2010)

All the best

Snakeman Raymond Hoser
Snakebusters Reptile education