Florida wildlife officers accidentally killed a pregnant pet snake with $100,000 in babies, and the owner is still suing three years later

A Florida snake breeder is still fighting in court three years after wildlife officers mistakenly killed his highly valuable, pregnant boa constrictor, Big Shirl, during a 2023 raid. The incident recently gained fresh attention on Reddit after being shared by user Lowbrass2018 on the interestingasf–k subreddit, and it seems to feature bodycam footage that captures the exact moment officers realized their error.

The video starts with a wildlife officer telling someone, “The boa’s dead,” and saying, “We f—ed up. The pregnant boa. We messed up.” The person they are talking to gets upset and notes that the owner is going to be “devastated.” As he seems to throw things to the ground, the officer first asks if the babies can be saved, noting that it “was a mistake,” and says “the state’s going to fix it.”

The man holds his ground, arguing that he did remind them of the boa, and tells them, “You can’t fix it. You just killed something that wasn’t illegal, and it had about $100,000 worth of f—ing babies.” At the end of the video, the man quietly tells the officer, “I want reimbursement for it. That’s a 50-year-old snake, man.”

One Redditor laid out why money couldn’t fix things

In a comprehensive comment, the user explained that breeding rare snakes is a multi-generational project. They wrote, “you just lost 20 years of work. You need another 20 years of work to get back to this point, there are no shortcuts.” The commenter added that the snake was likely the result of a one-in-1,000 chance, representing decades of effort that money cannot restore.

Many users were critical of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), with one user even calling them “incompetent.” Another user provided context on the raid, alleging the owner had complied with a law banning Burmese pythons, but was denied a grace period to move his remaining animals. Burmese pythons are classed as an invasive species in Florida, and snake problems can spiral fast, as one family learned after a snake infestation drove them from their new home.

As a result, the user wrote that the state ran an operation to kill 30 pythons. When the officers arrived, “the owner left since he could not bear watch his animals be slaughtered but told them of that pregnant boa that was legal.” The FWC told Newsweek at the time that the snakes had been relinquished and that the owner requested the euthanasia be done on-site, an account the snake owners have disputed.

According to Hoodline, the FWC has stated they are gathering records and reviewing the event. However, the owner is pushing forward with a lawsuit, seeking restitution for the loss of Big Shirl and her unborn offspring. The outlet noted that this case has become a focal point for the broader conflict between reptile keepers and the FWC.

While a 2025 appellate decision reportedly upheld some of the commission’s regulations regarding prohibited species, the owner’s claim is now a test case for whether the state can be held financially responsible for animals destroyed during its operations. The state has admitted that Big Shirl’s death was a mistake, but it is fighting the restitution claim, per The Palm Beach Post.