San Antonio firefighters find 11 prohibited exotic, poisonous reptiles during house fire

Firefighters found several snakes and other exotic reptiles during a small house fire in the 11000 block of Gran Vista Street on Friday. Firefighters found several snakes and other exotic reptiles during a small house fire in the 11000 block of Gran Vista Street on Friday. Photo: Courtesy Photo/Animal Care Services Photo: Courtesy Photo/Animal Care Services Image 1 of / 45 Caption Close San Antonio firefighters find 11 prohibited exotic, poisonous reptiles during house fire 1 / 45 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — Firefighters responding to a small electrical fire early Friday morning on the Northwest Side discovered nearly a dozen prohibited reptiles inside a burning home.

A resident living at a home in the 11000 block of Gran Vista Street was housing two dogs and 11 prohibited reptiles, said Lisa Norwood, a spokeswoman for Animal Care Services.

Those animals included numerous venomous and non-venomous snakes — four vipers, one adder, one cobra, one cantil, one red-tailed boa, one ball python — as well as a dwarf caiman and a roughneck monitor lizard.

San Antonio Fire Department spokeswoman Deborah Foster said this was an interesting run for the firefighters.

“The find gave them the creepy crawlies,” Foster said.

An appliance caught fire in room at the home to store the animals, Foster said.

The fire was minor and electrical in nature, causing about $5,000 in damage to the carpeting surrounding the appliance.

Nine units responded at about 4:30 a.m. Friday to the small blaze and no injuries were reported.

Animal Care Services field operations supervisor Audra Houghton said the animals are just a few examples of exotic animals prohibited in the city limits.

That list of prohibited exotic animals include non-human primates, wolves, poisonous reptiles, skunks and crocodile-like reptiles.

The gallery above shows some of the prohibited animals in San Antonio.

Those who violate the ordinance can receive class C misdemeanor citations with fines of up to $2,000 per violation.

If anyone is injured as a result of these animal code violations, there are potential lawsuits against the violator from both the victim and the city of San Antonio, Houghton said.

Houghton said the South Texas Herpetological Society helped in removing the animals from the city limits.

She said the city may waive citations in this case due to the circumstances surrounding the fire, as long as those animals stay out of the city limits.

Scroll through the slideshow above to see a collection of photos of animals prohibited within the city limits.

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Twitter: @tylerlwhite