Punishment for corn possession

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Anonamou5

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Before you all get on the bandwagon telling me to enjoy my time in jail, get what I deserve, exotics suck, bla bla bla.....stop and put yourself in my shoes.

I've just been dobbed in by a mentally ill ex-neighbor for possessing a corn snake. Cops came round and it's basically up to NPWS now. I have a licence and keep two carpets on this. When I was given the corn I didn't know what it was (ignorance on my part) by this bloke working in a neighboring warehouse who didn't want it and was about to release it into the garden or kill it. ***? Everything deserves to live, he was real cute and experience with the carpets told me it should be easy to keep. Yes I was dumb to get something off licence but all I was really concerned about was preserving it's life, not how I was going to handle things afterwards. It wasn't until I did some research and found out what it was and that it was illegal that my dilemma began. Can't release it because of the impact on the environment and can't kill it due to morals. Don't know anyone else who wants it and can't sell on the open market. Don't want to take to zoo for fear of punishment so I just kept him. Over the years I have really grown to love him and the illegality forgotten. As far as snakes go they are funny, beatiful and interesting and quite different to the pythons in their character and ways.

I'm not a criminal, just a very soon father-to-be who loves animals and believes everything deserves the right to life, however damned by outmoded, didactic and blinkered government policy it may be. I read there was an amnesty a few years ago and that some people get given case-by-case licences to keep pest species. My snakes don't interact with each other to prevent any disease transfer like mites and are locked up under pad-lock and key, escape proof enclosures.

Does anyone know from experience what the real punishment might be? Advice on what to address in court would also be appreciated. Serious, mature answers only please people. I would hate for them to kill him or to lose my licence for the other snakes. They are my dearly loved pets - not a commodity.
 
hey is support ya mate u know u did the wrong thing but for the animals welfare u didnt wanna kill it and ya didnt wanna let it go cause u know what the dangers are. i would of done the same if i was in that situation im sorry and hope u dont get jail and hopefully dont lose your carpets:cry:
 
u wont get jail
ull prolly just get a slap on the wrist

unless they try to make a example of you
 
I read there was an amnesty a few years ago and that some people get given case-by-case licences to keep pest species

Back in 1997 there was an amnesty. As long as you declared what animals you had, they were made legal and put onto your licence. This included exotics, which went onto a certain licence just for them.

Several years later they had another amnesty just for exotics. They wanted anyone who had exotics to hand them voluntarily to avoid a fine. As far as i know, not many exotics were handed in. Not surprising since any animals handed in were most likely going to be euthanised.
 
Yea Sorry to hear this hope you dont get jail and u get to keep ur carpets.
I fell what it is like i am like u.
 
I doubt if you'll get a jail sentence, but then again, I've never kept exotics and wouldn't know what the punishment was for keeping them. Having said that, I'd be very surprised if they didn't kill the corn. As for your current license, if I were the NPWS, I'd cancel it. I'm a very black and white person - no shades of grey when it comes to punishment so far as Im concerned. I don't think keeping a corn warrants a prison sentence.

Good luck whatever happens.
 
if its your first offence you may get lucky and get a section 10 (offence proven, no conviction recorded) worst would be a fine of a few hundred dollars and court costs. sorry your snake is gone, it will be euthanised, if it already hasnt.
 
Hold your wrist out and I'll give you your punishment.

I doubt your baby will be visting daddy in the slammer.

Best of luck.
 
i too am a waiting a summons in the mail for the same thing my lawyer has said i should get off wiht nothing but a $1000 buck fine

still stressing though more than anything i am pissed because i have had my corns for 12 years and knew there fate as soon as they left my hands
 
that sucks bad

i hope the best for you. to bad there is so many exotics out there its not funny you probs wont get much i dont think best of luck
 
I think at the most u might get a token fine, a slap on the wrist and be required to declare this in future licence applications for the next 5-10 years.

But as for keeping the exotic, bleh, I would too if I wasnt so scared of losing my rather EXY GTP, so dont fret, not everyone thinks ur evil :)
 
you WILL not get anything more than a $200 if it is your first offence (or first semi major) and you do end up in the courts they will most likley offer you a diversion package (talk to a solicitor for more info) which basically means u send a letter to npws and kiss there ***, dont screw up for two years and your charge is dropped.

any more than this and i would certainly appeal on the basis of similar cases and the result being worse for you. if this does happen pm me and i can send you some documents from a similar case i was "involved" in
 
if they are going to make an example of this, i highly doubt that it will be you. it would be a totally different matter if you were caught by customs smuggling them in!!
 
Thanks for all the positive feedback, especially Dans enlightening info. Hopefully NPSW has people in it that deep down want to preserve life whether it be foreign, native, legal, illegal, black, green, or in this case red.
 
jus a slap on the wrist mate, there are people importing, exporting, breeding, exotics n the largest fine ive heard in a while was $8000 n they kept their wild life licence
 
with people getting caught with guns, snakes, tasers, drugs etc - I highly doubt little old you with ur corn snake is worth them worrying too much about.
 
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