It is Nashville. What do you expect?
One night, after dropping my wife and her sisters off at a concert at Bridgestone, I met a college friend who was in from out of town, who promptly asked, “So why does Nashville allow giant snakes on Broadway?”
I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere about that question equating to the quality of the dating pool in the bars, but the best I could do was offer a confused eyebrow raise.
After giving my friend a walking tour of Broadway’s honky-tonks, there they were. As Instagram-ready as the Elvis statue, stood before me was one snake wrapped around the neck of a woman, and another being hauled around in a wagon.
Though I’m the son of a veterinarian, I’m quite lousy at identifying snakes. Boa constrictor? Python? I had no idea, but I got out my phone to gather some quality material for a few buddies.
But then, I heard the woman holding the snake say, “Twenty dollars to hold the snake.”
I watched as they placed the snake on a man’s shoulders, allowing it to wrap loosely around him. He grinned as his friends took pictures.
My friend, a graduate school classmate of mine, cued up our trained scrutiny and asked, “Do they have a permit to do that?”
Pythons on Lower Broadway business raise safety, permit questions (wsmv.com)
I would not get close to that thing anyway. But I did notice that the first reaction was “Permit?” and not if it was safe as if in “If you buy a government-issued permission, then it is all OK.”
We know better: The driving factor is revenue. Either more coming in or something affecting its flow into their pockets the city coffers.
Government-issued permission?
Far Side: “I guess he does have a license to do that.”
Hey, they want to make money.
Good on them.
My oldest two kids both keep snakes as pets. #2 “wears” it around the house. It’s creepy if you’re not expecting or used to it.
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One thing to remember: “reptile brain” or not, a well-fed, well-socialized non-venomous snake is not any more dangerous than a well-fed, well-socialized dog. (That’s why #2 “wears” it around and lets people “pet” it: so that it’s accustomed to being handled outside its terrarium.)
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That someone decided to make a business out of charging money to let people hold and pose with large non-venomous snakes doesn’t surprise me. Businesses like that exist all over the place, including some “reptile expos”, a few of which travel and can come to you! The snakes are used to being handled; they do it all the time.
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No, what surprised me is the “permit” question. It’s certainly not a safety issue (whether the guy knows that or not), and if there’s no safety issue, that just leaves the “government permission” and “government revenue” questions, a sure sign of someone who’s lived under a freedom-limiting government for far too long.