# Animal Control Worker feeds puppies to snake **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 25, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640 "2002-09-25T17:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/1 "2002-09-25T17:10:00Z")
Cite: [http://www.local6.com/sh/news/stories/nat-news-aptv-168369120020924-090901.html](http://www.local6.com/sh/news/stories/nat-news-aptv-168369120020924-090901.html) Quote: > [@](#): > > DETROIT – An animal control worker was fired for allegedly feeding a litter of live, weeks-old puppies to a large snake, officials said Monday. > > The snake, believed to be a python confiscated during a police raid, has been placed in a sanctuary, city animal control officials told the Detroit Free Press for a Tuesday story. > > The female animal control worker, who the city has declined to name pending charges, was fired for the August incident. > > “I can’t fathom why anyone would do this,” said Judith West, deputy director of the Detroit Health Department, which oversees the animal control facility. > > A report of the incident has been forwarded to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and charges are pending, West said. > > Investigators say charges could range from felony animal cruelty, to an abuse of position by the employee, who was investigated by the city’s internal controls section. > > West refused to say how many puppies were fed to the snake or how many feedings took place. She said fellow animal control workers reportedly witnessed the feedings. Those workers are not likely to be charged. The Reaction: Holy fucking shit! Are you fucking kidding me? Not only not this mouthbreathing asswad feed live puppies to a python- but these other dumb ass motherfuckers **watched** it, like it was mother-fucking Jerry Springer? You inbred fucking morons. Here is a fucking clue-- feeding puppies to a python is fucking wrong. Fuck! "Those workers are not likely to be charged. " Fuck me- charge them all. At least name those dimwitted fucks so that decent society can shun them properly. They might not be charged, but I see a whole fucking lot of fired coming down the pike for these idiots. Sorry for the rant- but come on people. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/2 "2002-09-25T17:17:44Z")
WAY TO RUIN MY BIRTHDAY 😃 Seriously, this pisses me off, a lot. And I understand that snakes have to eat, too… but this is fucking ridiculous. Disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/3 "2002-09-25T17:19:09Z")
Somebody should feed her to a snake ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/4 "2002-09-25T17:20:10Z")
Well… Puppies are cute and all, but what if it was rabbits? Or mice? The sort of thing one normally feeds to pythons? I mean, feeding it animals who are in your charge, that are supposedly being held pending adoption, that’s certainly a violation of trust. But really, snakes have to eat too. I don’t think the fact that it was puppies instead of rodents makes it worse. Still, I don’t imagine the sort of folks who get off on watching puppies being eaten are very nice people. But let’s keep it in perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/5 "2002-09-25T17:23:47Z")
Were the puppies marked for death anyway? Then I don’t see the big deal. I’m sure it was quite unpleasant to see, and I wouldn’t want to be there, but why aren’t you crying for all the mice in the world who regularly become snake food? Why not? Are they not cute enough to give you the same gut reaction? ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/6 "2002-09-25T17:24:55Z")
What a Fucking BITCH, this person is. There was a story about an Animal Control Officer in KY, who was shooting and killing dogs, that has not been adopted, he wasn’t actively trying to get these dogs adopted, they weren’t rabid, or diseased, they just needed a home. He thought gassing was too expensive, compared to the cost of a slug, so he shot and killed them. This kind of behavior is unexcusable, I hate people like this. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/7 "2002-09-25T17:26:18Z")
You can get feeder rats to give to a snake. You can feed it chicken from the supermarket. The puppies could’ve been adopted and made into family pets. Feeder rats could not. Already dead chickens could not. This was an act of cruelty, plain and simple. There is no talking around it by discussing the relative worth of various animals that snakes might eat. That’s irrelevant when someone purposely gave the puppies to the snake. I hope that this psychobeast of a woman and those who watched her don’t own pets. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/8 "2002-09-25T17:29:06Z")
Then there was the pet store guy who was feeding kittens to snakes. I’m sorry, but this is bad. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/9 "2002-09-25T17:34:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Intaglio \* > **He thought gassing was too expensive, compared to the cost of a slug, so he shot and killed them.** So, what’s the problem? Dead is dead. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/10 "2002-09-25T17:38:13Z")
Oh, please, knock off the sob stuff. So she fed the puppies to a snake. If they hadn’t been eaten by the snake, they would have been gassed. At > [@](#): > > The vast majority of the thousands of unwanted animals that go through the Detroit facility each year die by carbon monoxide gassing, according to city statistics. And don’t say they would have been adopted. > [@](#): > > Of the 5,750 animals taken in this year, 529 were adopted, 632 were returned to owners and 13 went to research, city officials said. In 2000, only 78 out of more than 9,000 animals were adopted. Snakes don’t eat dead animals; their meals have to be alive and squirming. Would you be as outraged if the animal control worker had fed the snake rats instead? If not, why not? Think of it as the Circle of Life; no matter what, the puppies were doomed. This way, at least, they were recycled. ---
**Author:** ![Meka\_Leka\_Hi\_Meka\_Hiney\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Meka\_Leka\_Hi\_Meka\_Hiney\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meka_Leka_Hi_Meka_Hiney_Ho)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/11 "2002-09-25T17:40:44Z")
Aren’t puppies from animal control generally unadoptable? At my local pound, if they’re under 5 weeks old they gass 'em no matter what. If these are the circumstances, I don’t see what the big deal is either. It’s them or feeder rats. If they were adoptable, well that’s just sick. LM ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/12 "2002-09-25T17:43:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tlw \* > You can get feeder rats to give to a snake. You can feed it chicken from the supermarket. The puppies could’ve been adopted and made into family pets. Feeder rats could not. Why not? Rats make very nice pets; they’re very intelligent and loving. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/13 "2002-09-25T17:45:17Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by tlw \* > \*\* > This was an act of cruelty, plain and simple. There is no talking around it by discussing the relative worth of various animals that snakes might eat. That’s irrelevant when someone purposely gave the puppies to the snake._\* Why is it irrelevant? Why is it any crueler to feed puppies to the snake than rats? I guess what’s cruelness to the dog is kindness to the snake. Obviously the woman abused her position. The dogs were being raised to be sold as pets, not as pet food, and she should be punished for that. However, that aside, I don’t see why what she did was particularly terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/14 "2002-09-25T17:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*I’m sorry, but this is bad. \*\* _I’m_ sorry, but that’s a completely subjective, culturally-conditioned judgement. The fact that these workers watched it, that they probably enjoyed the spectacle of it, that is somewhat disturbing. But the fact that it was puppies, and not rats or bunnies or whatever…I don’t see how that makes it worse. Plenty of cultures do not have any problem with using cats and dogs as food. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/15 "2002-09-25T17:47:28Z")
The difference between dogs and, say mice, is that dogs have a higher order of thinking. We’d all be outraged if the animal control worker fed a baby chimp to the snake. Also, there’s the animal control worker’s lack of common sense. It’s a cultural thing. Sure they eat horsemeat in France, but it would gag many people in the U.S. Culturally, pet owners accept there’s no way to keep a python alive without feeding it mice/rats. But it isn’t a part of the culture to feed it man’s best friend. It’s still pretty far-fetched to fire someone about this, however. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/16 "2002-09-25T17:47:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tlw \* > **This was an act of cruelty, plain and simple. There is no talking around it by discussing the relative worth of various animals that snakes might eat. That’s irrelevant when someone purposely gave the puppies to the snake.** But, see, YOU are the one assigning relative worth, not some one else. And let’s look at the other side of the scale: > [@](#): > > The vast majority of the thousands of unwanted animals that go through the Detroit facility each year die by carbon monoxide gassing, according to city statistics. > … > So far this year, 4,576 animals, mostly dogs and cats, were gassed, according to city records. > > Of the 5,750 animals taken in this year, 529 were adopted, 632 were returned to owners and 13 went to research, city officials said. In 2000, only 78 out of more than 9,000 animals were adopted. Is it better to gas them than shoot them or feed them to a snake? Why go to the store and buy chicken (thus spending even more of the taxpayers money on the animal-control problem) when you’ve got a ready food supply on hand? Face it, the only problem you have with the situation is your notion of relative worth - puppies are cute so they shouldn’t be food. Feeder rats couldn’t be adopted because **you** don’t think they’re cute enough. And hey, chickens are already food, right? They grow on vines in the supermarket freezer. They’re not animals or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/17 "2002-09-25T17:48:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tlw \* > **You can get feeder rats to give to a snake. You can feed it chicken from the supermarket. The puppies could’ve been adopted and made into family pets. Feeder rats could not. Already dead chickens could not.** Perhaps they could have been adopted, but is it likely? According to the linked article, the vast majority of animals brought into shelter are put to death. If that is your only argument it’s not a very good one. Most people have an attachment to dogs and cats because they regard them as “pets”. Well, I have “pet” rodents and frankly it’s all the same to me. I do feel sad for these puppies, and I feel sorry for feeder rats and mice a well. One does not have more value to the other IMHO. I know you don’t think it’s relevant, but I do, just because I can’t understand the rage directed at the woman in the OP if it’s not also directed at my best friend who keeps a snake and gives it mice. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/18 "2002-09-25T18:25:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tlw \* > \*\*You can get feeder rats to give to a snake. You can feed it chicken from the supermarket. The puppies could’ve been adopted and made into family pets. Feeder rats could not. Already dead chickens could not. \*\* **gobear** mentioned this already, but: Snakes eat living or just-recently deceased food, not slabs of meat. Feeding them chicken is impossible. If the puppies were going to be gassed anyway, I don’t see what’s wrong with feeding them to the snake. It might have been more merciful to gas them first, then feed them to the snake immediately afterwards, though (depending on the snake – some are finicky eaters.) ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/19 "2002-09-25T18:32:40Z")
If they puppies were going to be put to death anyway, why not feed them to a snake? I have no problem with it. I guess I’m not in the ‘aw, not the cute widdle puppies’ camp. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640/20 "2002-09-25T18:38:01Z")
Animal control is supposed to dispose of its animals in a humane manner. Strangulation is inhumane, whether it is inflicted by hand or by snake. Hence, the guy deserves to be fired. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-control-worker-feeds-puppies-to-snake/129640.md?page=2)