Of pythons and pit bulls: Pushing back against media bias

People used to say "Euuuw!" when they heard I had pythons, and shiver in fear at my pit bulls. Now, those reactions are reversed. Over the years, the pit bull community has taken a very proactive role in fighting false negative stereotypes about our dogs. For longer than I have owned dogs, people in the community have stepped out, created educational days, spent time talking about our dogs to anyone who will listen. It's time for the python community to adopt what has been an extremely successful program for getting out the truth about our pets. Consider the headline on an article on ctpost.com:

DEEP collects 5 illegal pets, one vicious python, at Beardsley Zoo

The article goes on to explain the surrender of a Burmese python in lurid detail:

The most exciting moment of the day occurred behind closed doors. Overturf and EnCon officer Todd Chemacki recalled it in the back of the room. The other Burmese python was about 13 feet -- and deemed too dangerous to show the public. When Ralbovsky tried putting it into one of his bins, it struck its head at him several times, reaching waist-high. He had to pin it with a catch pole; then it took two people to get it in the bin. Of course, the animal isn't poisonous, Overturf granted. "But when a snake with the head of a small dog hits you, and bites, you'll feel it," he said. "And then when it wraps around you ..." Chemacki said.

That is the scene people who have never met a python will always remember. They'll get the idea pythons are dangerous beasts who will strike at you and wrap around you and, presumably, send you to your scaly doom -- something those of us who keep them know is a distorted and false view of our pets. Distorted or not, stories like this fill the newscasts, papers, and websites non-snake owning people read every day. It's time we learned from the pit bull people and started pushing back. We need to attend Snake Day and herp society events that are occurring this spring nationwide. Offer to do presentations at local schools, camps, and community groups. Set up a booth at festivals and street fairs. We need to talk about our pets to other pet people, whenever and wherever we can. This is our opportunity to reach out and change minds. It worked with pit bulls. It will work with pythons -- if we do the work to get our voices heard. Will you start speaking out this spring?