Quote Originally Posted by Millinex View Post
So you'd charge a 14 year old or an old lady with neglect?
Without a second's hesitation. The court would decide to what degree and how culpable the people in question are.

I had no internet, with very little means in a single parent family and, starting at the age of 14, I still managed to find information and read extensively about garter snakes for close to 2 years before I got my first one.

The grandmother and the parents are the ones that are really to blame in this situation though. All are adults that really should have known better and there's absolutely no excuse for it in this day and age.

P.S. - yes educating them would be a good thing for the future but ... zero tolerance is the only thing that would make a difference. I'll happily compare this to my battles with British reptile shops and my on-going attempts to get the right info to them ... my insistance on other British forums to dispell and rubbish all of the nonsensical husbandry quips that pop up through word of mouth.
It all falls on deaf ears and until people are willing to make examples of others ... snakes will suffer and die ... simples.