Need to put leash on those snakes!!

[Valigator]

WEST PALM BEACH -- The owners of a small dog killed by an 11-foot Burmese python were awarded $1,300 in the death of their pet.

A small claims court judge on Monday awarded Boynton Beach residents Wayne Vassello and Shana Lane the amount in damages and court costs.

Vassello was walking the pair's 8-pound rat terrier, Max, in February and let the dog off his leash near their apartment. A neighbor's pet python, Diamond, had gotten free and grabbed the dog by the head, wrapping several coils around him.

Vassello hit the snake with a golf club and got it to release the dog, but Max ran away and was found dead the next day with injuries consistent with constriction, according to a veterinarian.

The owner of the snake, which survived, argued in court that Vassello is partly to blame because he let Max off his leash and that he might have accidentally hit the dog with the golf club.

Vassello and Lane said Max was a part of the family: They set a place set for him at Thanksgiving dinner, and he was to be the ring bearer at their wedding.

[fabsroman]

Yep, I doubt that he would have gotten anything in Maryland because Maryland still believes in the contributory negligence doctrine, and his letting the dog off the leash would have been contributory negligence, barring any recovery whatsoever.

[M.T. Pockets]

I would think a pet would be considered personal property, just like a golf club, and if it was damaged or destoyed the owner's claim would be limited to the value of the animal. I don't think the owners would be entitled to anything for their emotional distress.

It was a snake that got little fluffy, but it could just as easy been another big dog that got him. They must have proven that the snake's owners were somehow negligent in not providing adequate containment for their snake. Who knows, maybe little fluffy was enticing him, kind of like an attractive nuisance to him.

I'm not sure what the standard of care is for the owner of a pet snake compared to other animals, I don't know if it would be considered an "exotic". I know here in Minnesota owners of certain "exotic" animals are held strictly liable. (the courts are almost ruling it that way for certain dog breeds now too) Correct me Fabs, but I understand strict liability to mean that if the animal did it at all, the owner is considered at fault regardless if they're negligent or not.

Anyway, too bad about the dog, but I'm glad it wasn't a kid.

[fabsroman]

Strict Liability in a tort context means that the Defendant is liable for the Plaintiff's damages without the Plaintiff having to show that the Defendant was negligent.

Strict Liability in a criminal context means that mens rea ("guilty mind") does not need to be proven for the Defendant to be found guilty. The simplest example of this is a speeding ticket. You do not need to know that you were speeding and the LEO does not need to show that you intended to speed, for you to be found guilty. The converse is a Maryland citation for spinning wheels (i.e., burning rubber). The LEO needs to show that you intended to spin the wheels, and that it wasn't an accident.

In Maryland, dogs are treated as property, and the cap for damage to a dog is $2,500, which I do not necesarily agree with because some dogs can be worth a lot more than that. $1,300 for the death of a dog isn't unconscionable as far as the worth of the dog is concerned. It costs a lot of money to raise a dog, plus some dogs cost quite a bit as puppies. If the judgment were $100K+, then I would have fallen out of my chair.

Granted, if somebody killed my dog, Nitro, I don't think $1,300 would make me whole again, or $2,500 for that matter.

[Cal Sibley]

Hello Val,

My mother in law lives near you in Sunrise. It's grown considerably in recent years, definitely not a sleepy suburb. A young woman was jogging near one of the many canals last week and was grabbed and killed by a large gator. It's doubtful we'll ever know how many people are killed yearly since Floridas main income is its tourism business, and these type things are kept quiet when possible. My mother in law lives only three blocks away from the incident. My wife was there visiting her at the time. As a teenager I lived just north of there in West Palm Beach. Alligators were considered threatened and protected. Maybe no one expected them to recover so rapidly. They've certainly made quite a recovery. Some of the canals are crawlng with these reptiles. I can't help but think they'll have to be moved pretty soon, maybe to Lake Okeechobee or to the Everglades. What do you think? Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[PJgunner]

Years back, my daughter had a pet Bull Snake. It was given to her by a friend who was going away to college and could no longer keep it. Along with the snake was a book on the care and feeding of the animal. I ttok the time to read the book, and when it came to thes ection on where and how to keep it, the book said that snakes are the world's greatest escape artists. Darn't if they weren't right. Dooby got out of his aquarium more than once. Scared the holy living bejabbers out of my wife more than once. I finally put four five pound ingots of lead on the cover of the aquarium and that finally kept the little rascal contained. Made the better half a lot happier.
That Burmese Python is one of the more aggressive forms of Pythons. My son from a previous marriage had a reticulated Python as a pet that was thirteen feet long when it died. He now has another that is, the last time I asked, about six feet long. It was about two feet long when he bought it.
I have no problem with people keeping large snakes as pets provided they can keep them properly contained. I do believe that if they have small children, then the snake should go.
Paul B.

[Nulle]

Rattel snakes have been giving us fits the last few weeks. I have been getting about two calls a week to pick them out of yards.

[M.T. Pockets]

If you picked up a rattle snake in my yard, you'd have to send another crew with a ladder to get me out of a tree.

[multibeard]

Originally posted by M.T. Pockets
If you picked up a rattle snake in my yard, you'd have to send another crew with a ladder to get me out of a tree.

About the same thing here MT Pockets

Our massagga rattlers here in Michigan only grow to around 20 inches. There bite is not that poisonous.

The only one I have ever run onto rattled at my feet while fishing a 10 ft wide trout stream. One step to the bank and when I next hit ground I was on the opposite bank. Stood a second and then laughed my self silly.

I had heavy rubber hip boots on. There was no way the snake could bite thru them. When I crossed back over I couldn't find it.

They are totally protected here as an endangered species.

[Valigator]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...nion-headlines

OPINION

Latest delight to hit Florida: Giant snakes
Ramsey Campbell
COMMENTARY

June 25, 2006

Forget alligator attacks or even killer hurricanes. In case you haven't heard, Florida is rapidly becoming python country.

Giant pythons -- exotic snakes that can grow more than 20 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds -- have quietly moved into the southern and central portion of the state since the mid-1990s.

I first encountered a python in the wild -- it had escaped from its cage in a Leesburg home -- about 10 years ago.

It was one of many that had gotten loose. Most are never caught. Some may even be dumped out in the wild when they get too big to keep at home.

Pythons have no predators here and love to bask in the Florida sunshine.

In the wild they mainly feed on raccoons, rabbits and cats, but they aren't finicky eaters and can make a meal out of anything that dares cross their path.

They seem to be moving into the state almost as fast as Northern retirees, particularly in the Everglades. There officials have discovered more than 200 pythons living in the wild.

Ninety-five pythons were discovered in the Everglades last year alone.

How many are really out there is anyone's guess.

Native to Burma, the largest of the snakes found was 16 feet long and weighed in at more than 150 pounds.