Bay Shore man guilty of selling pythons
The 14-foot python was captured as part of the investigation into a Bay Shore man who sold nearly two-dozen juvenile Burmese Pythons to undercover investigators. (Sept. 11, 2012) Credit: NYSDEC
A Bay Shore man was fined $5,000 after wildlife investigators caught him selling snakes on Craigslist and launched a sting that led to the discovery of a 14-foot breeding female python in his car, state officials said Tuesday.
After seeing Arthur Davidson's ads about Burmese pythons, agents from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faced many "twists and turns" to gain his trust, DEC officials said.
It's illegal to sell certain wild animals as pets in New York, DEC said, but the fast growth rate of Burmese pythons, among the largest snake species, have made them popular in the United States.
A DEC officer posing as a buyer met Davidson at an Oakdale parking lot July 13 and bought 23 juvenile pythons for $2,400, state officials said.
As soon as the sale was sealed, agents rushed in and found Davidson had a 14-foot, 100-pound breeder, a female, in his car, along with five more juveniles, DEC said.
Last week, Davidson, of 1149 Hyman Ave., pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of selling wild animals as pets and was fined $5,000 by Judge Gaetan B. Lozito in First District Court in Central Islip.
Davidson, 42, reached by phone Tuesday, hung up after being asked about the snakes. "I don't know anything about them," he said. Davidson works for the Long Island Rail Road, but he has been breeding reptiles a long time as a side business, the DEC said.
Three agents tried but could not uncoil the 14-foot-long python, according to the DEC. The snakes are banned for interstate transport by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In New York, the DEC requires a permit to possess the snakes, officials said, but certain python breeds are legal.
Burmese pythons can grow up to 22 feet long and weigh up to 200 pounds. They kill their prey by constriction.
They are native to Southeast Asia, where they're hunted for their skin and meat, leading to a large drop in the population of wild pythons, the DEC said.
Pet pythons released into the wild have displaced native species in regions such as the Florida Everglades, the DEC said.
The DEC said the snakes have been donated to educational and research facilities with proper permits that have DEC permits to possess the animals.
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