Cops are pretty good at “accidentally” killing things. From slaughtering 25 to 30 dogs a day, per an estimate from a Department of Justice official, to running over women and laughing about it, some officers appear to be at their most comfortable when they’re watching the life leave a creature’s eyes.

Now, there’s a new animal that the feds are proving adept at murdering: snakes.

According to Newsweek, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) was authorized by the state to euthanize wild reticulated and Burmese pythons due to their invasive nature. Owing to this 2021 law, a group of officers entered a reptile facility in Sunrise, Florida with the mission of legally killing 34 pythons.

What they actually did was kill a legally-owned boa constrictor and its eggs, which was worth about $100,000.

Bodycam of Florida wildlife officers accidentally euthanizing a pet boa constrictor with $100,000 worth of babies
byu/Hobbescrownest inPublicFreakout

“After the law passed, the FWC gave [snake breeder Chris] Coffee five months to find a new home for the pythons. At the end of that time, Coffee still possessed more than 30 of them, and officers gave Coffee an ultimatum: Either allow them to euthanize the snakes or he would go to jail,” explains Newsweek. “Coffee gave the officers permission to euthanize the pythons, but he warned them not to kill a pregnant boa constrictor kept in the same area, which is legal in Florida.”

Well, the officers did just that, leading to a justified freakout from Coffee.

“What is wrong with you guys? Who did it?” he yells in the video. He later adds, “I reminded you 10 times! You just killed something that wasn’t illegal, and it had about $100,000 worth of fucking babies!”

Newsweek notes that the FWC did more than just kill the legal animal. One of the officers tasked with killing the other snakes admitted that he had only handled one snake in the past, and Coffee says the group’s methods for killing the rest of the snakes was entirely inhumane.

“The video shows some of the other snakes writhing after they were shot. FWC officers held up one of the dead reptiles and posed for a photo before dumping the carcass in a large trash can,” reads the Newsweek piece.

“I can’t watch it. Those animals mean a lot to me,” Coffee told WTVJ. “It’s like watching someone kill my kids.”

There’s no word yet on if the state will be compensating Coffee for the incident, though his family has put together a GoFundMe with more information.

I’m not a snake guy myself, but I think it’s fair to say Coffee has a right to be upset. Here’s hoping he gets a nice payday.