Case Details

Pet snake's head bitten off
Spring Hill, FL (US)

Incident Date: Monday, May 24, 2004
County: Hernando
Local Map: available
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Cynthia Christensen

Case ID: 2371
Classification: Mutilation/Torture
Animal: reptile
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Cynthia Christensen rode down Strauss Street in her mobilized wheelchair to visit with friends, police stated. The friends talked to each other and one woman told everyone about a pet baby python she had purchased a week earlier.

Minutes later, Christensen bit down on the snake's head, biting its head off and threw it on the ground with the snake's blood still dripping off her arm, according to authorities.

Christensen has been arrested in connection with the incident and now faces a charge of cruelty to animals, records show.

She is being held in the Hernando County Jail where her bail is set at $10,000.

Ruth Goldstein, a spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said she was not surprised to hear about the incident.

"People do sick things to animals," she said. If what it alleged is true, the law should be used to its fullest extent, Goldstein said."She should be charged accordingly."

When police first questioned Christensen, she told them the snake had bit her lip and she threw it on the ground. A dog in the yard then bit off the snake's head, she told officers.

Deputy Derek Brunet of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office said in an affidavit there were no bite marks on the python consistent with a dog bite and Christensen did not have injuries to her lip or face.

She was then arrested on the charge. If convicted, she could face up to five years in prison for the cruelty to animals charge, a third-degree felony in Florida.

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References

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