Sounds like animal cruelty to me.

By isak, April 10, 2009

I admit I have a soft spot for all things that breath. I have even removed copperhead snakes from the yard where the beingstray dogs are (can be a bad mix: dogs and a snake). The snake removal techniques tend to be a bit odd — like sliding a pitch fork under it and flipping it across the yard until I get it over the fence… or the time one of them latched on to a hoe and I just carried it to the fence. But no snakes were harmed (pissed off, but not harmed) and no dogs were bitten.

I read the following story about the baseball team that sacrificed a snake to end their losing streak. C’mon… what were they thinking??? Had this been a larger animal — say a cat or a dog or a horse, I think the players would have been charged with animal cruelty. Will they be charged in this case? If not, why not?

Can’t find a body? Start at the other end…. was there a purchase? If so, where’s the snake?

Sorry. I guess it’s the “disregard” that bothers me.

Fla. baseball team kills snake to stop losing

From Associated Press
April 09, 2009 8:00 PM EDT

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – A Tampa Bay area high school baseball coach has been temporarily relieved of his duties while authorities investigate the killing and burial of a snake on his team’s field. A Palm Harbor University High School second baseman said the coach told the team last week that they were “snake-bitten” and needed to stop their losing streak.

So, the student said, the team bought and killed a snake, then buried it on the field during the school’s spring break. The coach wasn’t present.

A Pinellas County schools spokeswoman said the coach was temporarily sidelined while authorities investigate. A sheriff’s office spokeswoman says nothing has been found on the field.

Information from: St. Petersburg Times, //tampabay.com