We awoke this morning at 7am to a knock at the door and were greeted by 6 DSE officers 5 Armed Plain Clothes Police and a warrant to search for Reticulated and Burmese Pythons.
The street we live in was blocked off by police cars great look for the neighbours!! Not to mention my daughter being frightened out of her whitts. Our phones confiscated, computer hard drives copied, draws emptied, beds pulled apart, tanks gone through, my weapons licence confiscated, all of this on a tip off!!
Guess what no illegal herps were found and our book matched what we had.

We have no recourse as to who "tipped" them off, in the meantime god knows what the neighbours are thinking,
and after reading the warrant had we not been home they had the power to break and enter our house.

I have no idea who we have pissed off as we have only ever tried to help others interested in Herps have always been fair in our dealings.

Needless to say this has left me with a very very bad taste in my mouth.

Holy !! sounds like a new chapter of "smuggled'! seek legal advice/compensation. have they returned your animals?
sounds way way over the top for a tip off, geez, I'm stunned!
never heard of that happening in nsw.
probly some stickybeak saw your scrubby? imagined it was a retic and took it apon themselves to dob you in?
That kind of hollywood is just not on in Australia!
If they thought you were terrorist maybe, but for wildlife for christ sake?
Unbeleivable!!
This should serve as a warning to anyone who keep herps to keep the books in order, (not that it did you any good)
Im sorry to hear that, You guys definately dont deserve such !
If there is anything we can do, just let us know.

I read this on several other forums, all i can say is that you should turn your back and walk away, fighting the dodgy governmen wont help.

Hope everything turns out ok.

If nobody ever fought dodgy policy, we would all be slaves Spike!
Standup for what you beleive in!
Wait till it happens to you and see if you still say that!

our gripe here isn't the way the raid was conducted, hell it wasn't even the raid itself in a lot of ways. It was the fact that I (as the licence holder) was accused of keeping animals that I am vehemently (& outspokenly) opposed to, accused for some reason of forging licences to do some imaginary dodgy transaction (in spite of the fact that I'm licenced to keep anything we are allowed to keep in Vic, including vens & crocs) and a host of other Sh*t that'd be laughable if I wasn't sitting here waiting to see if I have to fight them in court as well or not. I'm also pissed at the fact that the unsubstantiated word of some gutless little troublemaker can make these sorts of wild claims, & they are acted on by the dept. as if they were witnessed documented truths. Angry? Disgruntled? Too bloody right. I'm wondering if keeping herps is remotely worth this kind of unwarrented persecution.

We're narrowing the field. Luckily we have contacts that the average person doesn't have access to. We WILL find the culprit, & we will publish the name of the culprit so that other innocent herpers will know this pathetic specimen for the maggot they are.

Take Spike's advice, mate. Let it go.
I know how you feel. I went through the same thing thirty years ago in relation to native birds. I kicked up a fuss and the visits became a fortnightly event and in the end I gave up the hobby.
You feel helpless and violated and it's a feeling that will not ever go away.
I take comfort in the thought that the Wildlife officers involved were older than me and are therefor either dead or, ideally, receiving kerosine baths in a nursing home somewhere.
Gerry.

The 'mud sticks' thing would be my concern. (re: DSE) As for the person responsible, Karma will catch up to them, one way or the other.
Dont give up herps, especially if its a real passion.
Move to a non police state, and away from trouble, who needs it!
Keep your chin up, guys!

You're right, Inny. That's what I did and haven't looked back. Ofcourse, I had to drive through NSW to get here, but it proved worth the risk.