A Perfect Example of How Irrational Fear/Stupidity Kills Innocent People

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by Partymember

the whole thing is ridiculous...if you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO (and i can envision no circumstances in which this applies) kill the snake, use a shotgun loaded with birdshot and change your angle so you're shooting INTO the trunk.

Birdshot, for the uninitiated, has an effective range of MAYBE 20 meters and beyond that is not lethal or even harmful, too much loss in velocity and negligable mass renders it useless past all but the shortest distances. Since cops do have shotguns in their patrol cars, i don't think a trip to the hardware store (or a neighbors house) to get a charge of #8 shot would have been out of the question.

Hell, hit the thing with a baseball bat if you really gotta kill it. Its a snake, not an armored car, a simple smack to the head with a Louisville Slugger would crack its neck.

Very good point,with regards to the shotgun, since every police officer I know DOES carry a shotgun, which is far safer to anyone in the distance and far more effective for dispatching small animals when needed. The article specifically said that the snake was UP a tree, and I'm still trying to figure out how they wound up killing someone below their own level while shooting at something up above unless the bullets ricocheted off a tree limb. I'm a good shot myself, but I would not consider trying to use a handgun to shoot something small that is in a tree, especially in an area where humans are known to be at the time.

On the topic of my parents and my fondness of snakes-my mother is deceased; she died of COPD at the age of 46. My father is a bright person, and he was very receptive to learning about snakes, which he had always thought were evil creatures. He has no problem with me keeping them and has even held one or two himself. My mom never got over her fear of them, but eventually gave up on changing my mind. My grandfather became a staunch defender of snakes and proponent of their importance as pest controllers that were far more effective than cats and much cheaper and safer than using poisons. My brother-in-law, not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, has also become skilled at determining whether a snake is venomous or not and has also come to appreciate their value as pest controllers, since he has horses and barns, and that means mice and rats. I have to share credit with Steve-O on that, though, since the only time I've ever seen my brother-in-law cry was when Steve got killed. All of these people were people who feared and hated all snakes, and believed that the only good snake was a dead one, so if they can change it means that this behavior was indeed learned, not instinctual.

pitbulllady