Ssssssss! Snakes down the drain!
Here’s a piece of advice: If you love your pets, don’t let them near the good people from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
If you don’t believe me, just ask Ryan Hoyer.
Hoyer’s an amateur herpetologist.
Fine, I don’t care that much for snakes, either, but Hoyer loves ‘em.
He loves the rubber boa in particular. According to Hoyer’s website, rubberboas.com, these snakes are likeable, harmless creatures that, to my surprise, dwell in the Western U.S. and Canada.
Unfortunately, aside from being a rubber boa aficionado, Hoyer was also a target of “Operation Slither,” a Utah criminal investigation into the illegal reptile trade.
So when Hoyer was swept up in Operation Slither, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources swooped in and seized Hoyer’s 67 rubber boas.
Now, you’d think that an agency with “Division of Wildlife” plopped into the middle of its title would have the know-how to care for all sorts of creatures.
You’d be wrong.
You see, after Hoyer put his legal troubles behind him, he went to check on how his scaly buddies were doing at the good ol’ UDWR and found that Hoyer’s 67 had become Hoyer’s 8.
That’s right, only eight snakes had survived the “care” provided by the agency.
OK, taking care of 67 snakes is probably not the easiest thing in the world. But it only took me, an armchair quarterback in this whole drama, a few minutes on Hoyer’s website to get some basic tips on boa care.
For instance, they eat small rodents. And, here’s something interesting, Hoyer says that rubber boas are not “binge” eaters.
So you know right off the bat that throwing bags of Cheetos at these guys is not the right thing to do.
What’s the legal point in this muck ‘a muck?
Well, naturally Hoyer sued the state for the loss of his snakes.
But the Utah Supreme Court, having the last word in the case, decided that the state was immune because the death of Hoyer’s snakes “arose out of the institution or prosecution of a judicial proceeding.” (Hoyer v. State)
— Pat Murphy
patrick.murphy@lawyersusaonline.com
Get the latest key cases from the federal and state courts on Twitter!
