These are the cases of two Burmese pythons, both mutilated. One case is a crime, the other a state job.

In bitterly ironic twist, the Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the mutilation, neglect, and abandonment of an emaciated 7-foot male Burmese python who was stabbed twice, shot, and released in York Haven, Pa.

"Snakes require specialized expertise and care and deserve the same humane treatment as all other animals,” said Sarah Speed, Pennsylvania state director for the HSUS.

Sadly the Humane Society of the United States has said nothing about the recent mutilation and slaughter of a similar, yet larger, Burmese python by Florida Forest Service Rangers, killed by being beaten to death by rakes:

Tarrete held the tail, and Chaney grabbed the head. The two killed it with a rake rangers usually use to set fire breaks during controlled burns, Tarrete said.

Perhaps Sarah Speed can speak to her compatriots at HSUS in Florida about offering a similar reward and prosecute the Florida Forest Rangers with the same enthusiasm. Unfortunately her compatriots at HSUS, both in Florida and at the national level, were among the main proponents of the new federal regulations, and state regulations, that allow a duality in laws to occur. Where in one state mutilating a python is a crime, and in another it is a state-funded job opportunity.

Perhaps she can also ask why her organization is paying thousands of dollars to prosecute someone for mutilating a python in Pennsylvania, and has simultaneously spent hundreds of thousands of dollars convincing the State of Florida and the USFWS to essentially mutilate these animals on an industrial scale.

In the meantime this is yet another example of Burmese pythons being "dumped" by irresponsible owners, after the species was recently listed by the USFWS as "injurious," preventing import and interstate transport. This despite USFWS assurance that this would not happen as owners would have local outlets to place their animals.

Unfortunately this is just the beginning, and these numbers will continue to rise as more Burmese python owners find fewer and fewer people and organizations willing to accept their animals.

And sadly, one wonders if the snakes would have both met the same ends in shelters, had neither been mutilated, just surrendered.