nice snake article

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http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/07/20/news/local/doc488034e93be0c104622435.txt

'She's a snake, but she's a lover'
By Mary Garrigan, Journal staff
Choosing between his hometown and his pet python would be an easy choice for Iraq war veteran Kevin Eberle.
"I would have left Edgemont if they would have told me I couldn't keep her," Eberle said this week about Jager, a female Burmese python who measures 10 feet long, weighs 90 pounds and is quite capable of constricting a grown man to death.
Born and raised in Edgemont, Eberle, 39, returned to the small town in the southwesternmost corner of the state in June. He came back after 10 years in the U.S. Army, two tours in Iraq and a medical discharge for combat injuries that included several broken vertebrae, ruptured disks and nerve damage. "I busted up my back in an IED explosion," he said.
Seven explosions, in fact.
Eberle experienced numerous bombings in Iraq and lived through them all. Jager's original owner, Pvt. 1st Class Jessie Misner, was not so lucky.
In April of 2006, Eberle was just was back from his second tour of duty when his friend asked him if he would keep his pet python for him when he deployed to Iraq. Misner never came home.
"He was killed over there on June 7, 2006," Eberle said.
When his own military career ended, Eberle returned to a job at Custer's STAR Academy, a state-run juvenile corrections facility -- and a house in Edgemont.
Edgemont is small enough that if you move into it with a 10-foot python, your neighbors are going to notice.
"That's Edgemont," he said. "Everybody knows your business. It's a good thing, and a bad thing."
The town welcomed him back, but his pet snake got a cooler reception from some residents and the Edgemont City Council.
"Some citizens were concerned that this was a dangerous animal to be in town," Mayor Jim Turner said.
Eberle appeared before the council July 8 to argue that the town's ordinance outlawing wild or vicious animals within the city limits shouldn't apply to Jager.
"She's a snake, but she's a lover," Eberle said.
After he explained that the snake was always caged in a secured enclosure and never removed or handled without at least two adults present, the city council apparently agreed with him, Turner said.
"My feeling was that the authorities needed to know where the snake was -- for peoples' protection, yes, but more so for the snake's protection," he said. "If it got out, police might see it and shoot first, ask questions later."
That's not likely to happen, Eberle said.
He admits that Jager did escape her cage once when he lived in Colorado Springs, Colo., but she spent an uneventful week hibernating in a cold garage and never left the home's premises.
He said the 5-year-old snake, which may grow to between 16 and 22 feet long at maturity, was never in violation of any city ordinance. "When I went to the city council, they didn't think so, either," Eberle said.
Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com

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8 comment(s)
scary wrote on Jul 20, 2008 12:39 PM:
" I think the pose that Kevin has in this picture scares me more than the snake. Thanks for your years of military service. "

Please be careful wrote on Jul 20, 2008 11:57 AM:
" Mountain lions have personality too, but they'll kill you just the same. Reptiles don't have enough of a brain to think, "This is the guy who feeds me so I won't hurt him." They don't have a frontal cortex, so they don't "love" anybody. "

Kevin Eberle wrote on Jul 19, 2008 10:35 PM:
" she has a personality all animals do wether they are warm or cold blooded you just need to learn to undrestand them open your minds people "

susie wrote on Jul 19, 2008 10:02 PM:
" I see warm blooded animals that show feelings toward other living things. I see reptiles as cold blooded animals that don't show feelings toward other living things. There must have been something to the phrase, "Sneak up on you like a snake". Thank you for your service in the armed forces for America but be careful when you sleep with a snake or it may very well sneak up on you. "

Fred Stratman wrote on Jul 19, 2008 1:40 PM:
" I fully agree. Thank you, sir, for your patriotism. Thank you for your military service. "

Yes thank you....but wrote on Jul 19, 2008 1:39 PM:
" A friend of my Dad's had a python too. One night while he was asleep, it got out of it's enclosure and when he woke up, the snake was wrapped around him. It killed him, and my poor Dad never got that picture out of his mind. These animals are not pets! A reptile is not "loving". It is a dangerous animal. I can see that you are intent on keeping it, but it already escaped once. Please be sure that the door to the room is closed whenever you go to bed. This is no joke. The gentleman who was killed by his "pet" snake was in his 60's, but even a young man like yourself would stand no chance against it. "

Hiss Hiss heard that for years wrote on Jul 19, 2008 1:13 PM:
" 'She's a snake, but she's a lover'

For a second there I thought the story was about my ex-wife! "

Justme wrote on Jul 19, 2008 10:41 AM:
" Thank you for your service snakeman "
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