Warning! Kitties fed live to snakes!
by Grahame
Whilst reading about Cat Wilbur, I chanced upon this horrible bit:
>The following is an e-mail I received from an animal rescuer friend who was contacted by a fellow animal rescuer about the use of Craig’s List to procure kittens for the purpose of being fed alive to snakes. Please forward this and share on social network groups to alert everyone you know to the horrific reality of using sites like Craig’s List to “adopt” or “sell” animals. Thank you. Beth
“Krisie,
Can you send out an alert about people getting free kittens to feed their snakes on Craig’s List. Brittany’s friend was looking for a cat on Craig’s list and came upon a suspicious ad for extra kittens. When she called, the man said he used free kittens he gets on Craig’s List to feed his snakes as live bait. Her friend met the guy at a parking lot and got the three kittens which were from three different litters. He said he had just fed his snakes and had these kittens were left over. Brittany has one of the three which the two older kittens were hissing at. She already has found a permanent home for the kitten but is keeping the kitten for a few days until the couple gets back from a trip.
People who advertise their kittens on Craig’s List should be made aware that this is happening and is done by a lot of people who have snakes. Their reasoning is that they cannot get free live rats anywhere so why not kittens. The kittens have a much better chance to find homes by turning them into the county as other rescues get their kittens from the county for adoption. Often there are no kittens available when FAR goes there once a week so most of the healthy ones must be getting taken by the rescues. It certainly is a better fate than being eaten alive by a snake.
Brittany called the animal control to report it but they said they need an address to do anything. Brittany’s friend only had a phone number, probably a cell phone. It is animal cruelty and can be prosecuted.
I am sickened and horrified by this.
Love, Juanita”<
Hi… thanks for this Grahame. I did a bit of follow up work on this.
Yes, it is quite common in the USA (or at least it is not uncommon I sense). It probably happens in Europe as well. It is just that what I see indicates that it happens in the USA and there is a more laissez faire attitude in the USA to this sort of thing. It must be animal cruelty under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in the UK so a prosecution would follow if the person was caught.
That is the problem – catching people. This is because kittens advertised as “free to a good home” will attract the macho male who keeps a large snake(s). He will phone and convince the person he is a suitable candidate to care for the kitten and then feed it live to his snake. He’ll watch at the same time, no doubt.
It is not just through Graigslist that this happens although Graigslist is a very large free online advertising portal and so is used a lot. But it happens in all sorts of places where kittens are available. Maybe through pet stores for example.
Live mice, rats, rabbits and puppies are also fed to snakes. These can be purchased for the purpose I suspect altough can be bought pre-killed and frozen. It is just that puppies and kittens are oftenfree online because irresponsible cat owners allow their cats to breed. So the “free to a good home” advert is very bad.
We don’t know how big this problem is. It is probably a lot bigger than we imagine. It is a hidden problem. How do we know if a person has fed a kitten to a snake in the privacy of his home? It is very hard to track. And I am sure the police in general don’t want to be involved.
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