Late yesterday the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal ruled emphatically in favour of Australia’s Snake Man Raymond Hoser.
The court thoroughly rejected the series of lies peddled against him by officers of the Department of Primary Industries (DEPI) (formerly called the DSE) and associated business entities, and ruled against the DEPI’s unlawful cancellation of Hoser’s licences to do live reptile shows for public education.
Snake Man Raymond Hoser is by any measurable criteria the world’s leading reptile expert. He has worked with venomous reptiles professionally for more than 30 years, authored nine major books, contributed to hundreds of others, published hundreds of major scientific papers and discovered and named hundreds of species, genera and families of snakes, which is more than any other person in history (full listing at the official ICZN website www.zoobank.org by doing a search for Hoser or simply click here for the listing).
His reptile display business Snakebusters, has an unmatched perfect safety record spanning 32 years doing more deadly snake shows than all other businesses combined, who between them have had numerous fatal and near fatal snakebites in a far shorter period.
In spite of this undeniable expertise, the DEPI cancelled Hoser’s permits and shut down his business employing more than 10 staff in 2011. This was done at gunpoint.
In later VCAT proceedings, DSE told the presiding judge that Hoser had no expertise with reptiles, he was reckless with public safety, engaged in repeated acts of extreme animal cruelty, was a serial law breaker and had never published a scientific paper or book in his life. The DSE also made the reckless false claim that snakes surgically devenomized by Hoser, to ensure his shows were the safest in the world, had regenerated their venom, when they knew at all times that this was a physical impossibility.
Hoser produced undisputed evidence to rebut the false claims, but at the end of the case the judge Pamela Jenkins simply cut and pasted the submissions from the DSE’s lawyer that had been emailed to her as a Microsoft word file after the public hearings, and used these as her judgement. The Jenkins judgement was widely posted around the world (including on Wikipedia) as part of a concerted unlawful DSE campaign to destroy Hoser and his business reputation. Hoser took the matter to the court of appeal and won on no less than three occasions.
On each occasion, including yesterday’s “final hearing”, the judges found that the adverse findings made against Hoser had no factual basis, they were not allowed to be made in law either and directed Hoser’s wildlife displays continue as to stop them would jeopardise public safety.
In summary in their judgement yesterday the Supreme Court of Appeal, confirmed the following:
Raymond Hoser is a globally recognized expert in reptiles and wildlife.
Snakebusters are alone with an unmatched perfect safety record spanning more than 30 years.
Hoser’s scientific expertise is confirmed by numerous scientific publications and books, including citation by many others, of which both the DSE and the VCAT Judge had access to in the earlier hearing.
Venom regeneration by Snakebusters devenomized snakes has never been possible.
Snakebusters are the only risk free and legal venomous snake show in Victoria.
Hoser has never engaged in acts of animal cruelty.
Hoser has never put any lives at risk.
Snakebusters show are of unmatched standard anywhere.
There was no sound legal basis to support the convictions of Hoser in 2011 for alleged breaches of the wildlife act and hence the 2011 conviction (not sustainable in law) could not be used as a basis to shut Hoser’s business down. Notwithstanding the above, the illegal closure of Hoser’s business has in fact cost people’s lives as people have had to deal with unsafe alternative providers with improper relationships with DSE enforcement staff and last year (2013) saw a record nine deaths from snakebites, some caused by alternative providers who had worked with DSE to illegally shut Hoser’s business down for their own commercial benefit.
Hoser’s legal costs and business losses so far have run into the millions of dollars. His wife and young children were permanently traumatized when arrested by heavily armed police and wildlife officers in their own home during an illegal raid on 17 August 2011. Supposedly protected fauna was unlawfully killed by the wildlife officers during the raid.
In a media release dated June 2012, posted at:
http://www.snakebusters.com.au/Snakebusters-win-TWO-court-cases-this-week.htm
Hoser said he would be pursuing costs and losses. Nothing has changed since then.
In 2011, DSE had retrospectively redefined a so-called snake pit, to allege Hoser’s was illegal, even though what Hoser had used for the previous 5 years was what the DSE themselves had directed Hoser to use, they also used themselves; as did others in the snake display business (none of whom were retrospectively charged like Hoser). The Supreme Court of Appeal found that the DSE’s charging and wrongful conviction of Hoser for related alleged offences was illegal and could not be used to support a claim Hoser was a serial law breaker, as Hoser had in fact complied with the letter of the law at all times.
Today Hoser said “Australian wildlife conservation has had a rare legal victory today. It was a huge victory for those who like our native animals and are opposed to government officers killing them for their own commercial benefit. One can only hope that DEPI take the message from the court and stop being the problem. They now have the opportunity to become part of the solution instead! Now the DEPI should publicly apologize. They should start to work with me for wildlife conservation and not against me".

Further details:
Raymond Hoser, the snake man. Phone (Australia) 0412-777-211
http://www.snakeman.com.au