Multiple reptiles found in St. Louis Park trash can; man facing animal mistreatment charges
Reptiles found in trash bags in St. Louis Park (Courtesy of Snake Discovery: Reptile Store & Zoo Facebook)
A man is facing animal mistreatment charges after multiple reptiles were found in a St. Louis Park trash can.
Michael John Gay, 49, has been charged with 10 counts of animal torture.
Court records state that on Aug. 12, St. Louis Park police responded to Sunshine Park at 2900 Vernon Avenue South for reptiles that were found.
After arriving, police met with someone who was throwing something away at the park and noticed a trash bag with snakes and lizards inside. Authorities found what they believed to be a Burmese python snake, two king snakes, four leopard geckos and two dead ball pythons.
The reptiles that were alive were reportedly suffering from heat exhaustion and given to a rescue organization called Snake Discovery in Maplewood.
Later that day, St. Louis Park police got a call from a reptile re-homer who saw the post on Snake Discovery’s Facebook page of the animals and realized she knew the owner of the reptiles. The woman had been in contact with and received pictures from Gay’s wife about the state of dozens of animals and information about the process for surrendering them.
According to court records, Gay’s wife told the woman there were over 60 animals that needed to be surrendered, however Gay’s wife stopped responding to the woman in late July.
Using that information, police executed a search warrant at Gay’s house with the help of the Animal Humane Society. Officers found multiple cages with reptiles inside — 27 of them living and seven dead.
Authorities found six reptiles in an upstairs room of the house:
- Monitor lizard named “Egypt”
- Rocky python snake named “Naomi”
- Anaconda snake named “Rhaegar”
- Bearded dragon named “Venus”
- Burmese python snake named “Fraeya”
- Deceased milk snake
They also found 25 reptiles in the basement:
- Snapping turtle
- Albino milk snake
- Baby boa constrictor snake
- Dumerils boa constrictor snake
- Blood python snake
- Day gecko with decor
- Scorpion reaper with enclosure
- Albino king snake named “Morph”
- Spotted python snake
- Normal ball python snake
- Pinstripe ball python snake
- Deceased normal ball python snake
- Deceased white ball python snake
- Pied ball python snake
- Striped ball python snake
- Fire leg tarantula
- Boa constrictor snake
- Albino boa constrictor snake
- Savannah monitor lizard
- Leopard gecko
- Frost leopard gecko
- Fat-tailed gecko
- Striped fat-tailed gecko
- Unidentified python snake (possibly a carpet python)
Three other reptiles were found in the basement freezer:
- Deceased king snake
- Deceased bearded dragon
- Deceased white ball python snake
All deceased animals were released to the Humane Society, according to court documents.
Gay’s wife later told investigators that he recently had a stroke that impacted his understanding of the care for the animals.
The Animal Humane Society determined that all of the animals needed emergency medical care for various reasons, including the enclosures being too small, malnourishment, animals being kept in tanks with dead snakes and a build-up of scat in the enclosures.
Other factors included poor air quality, poor room ventilation and lack of proper cleaning that resulted in a readable ammonia level.
Gay is not currently in custody for the charges.