Snake handlers chat on Bourbon Street Sunday, March 15, 2020.
STAFF PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD
Among the mélange of entertainers, hustlers and eccentrics that clock in on Bourbon Street each evening, an enduring, controversial and non-human element has gone missing.
It’s been two years since state wildlife agents launched an effort to remove the pythons, boas and other animals that were draped across shoulders and pushed in carts along the promenade.
The creatures and their owners — most of whom sought to make a buck off of awed tourists — have largely stayed away ever since.
After four animal confiscations during and after Mardi Gras in 2024, when Gov. Jeff Landry deployed Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents to Bourbon Street, agents have encountered just one animal on the strip in the last two years: a live alligator in February, department records show.
“We didn’t seize one snake this year to my knowledge, and that tells you right there,” said Stephen Clark, the head of the Wildlife Department’s enforcement division. “Our presence during not only Mardi Gras but all the high traffic events has been effective in deterring folks from bringing animals into large crowds of people.”
The animal crackdown, dubbed “Operation Exotic,” is just one tentacle of a recent and widespread enforcement push from state, local and federal law enforcement agencies that has transformed the world-famous street. Officers have also focused on clearing homeless encampments and have said that their presence deters crime.
The push has sent vendors, performers and snakes into hibernation and driven an ongoing debate over who Bourbon Street is for.
New Orleans police officers stand with a roughly 10-foot-long python that police confiscated on Bourbon Street on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024.
PHOTO FROM LOUISIANA GOV. JEFF LANDRY
“There is a criminal, and then there is a regular working class,” said Laney Greco, who was arrested in May 2024 for bringing a 10-foot, 8-inch Burmese python to Bourbon Street and Orleans Avenue. “You’re hurting the working-class people who are trying to make tourism better.”
Running afoul of the law
The animal owners ran up against multiple state and city codes. State law prohibits the possession of constrictor snakes longer than eight feet long, and the sale of reptiles or amphibians without a license. New Orleans municipal code prohibits keeping any wild or exotic animal as a pet, including snakes that will grow to larger than three feet, monkeys, raccoons, squirrels, leopards, alligators, and roosters.
Per an agreement with State Police, 50 agents have enforced those and other rules in the city during major events, such as Bayou Classic, New Year’s, and Mardi Gras, Clark said. Records show Wildlife Agents were involved in 84 incidents on Bourbon Street since 2024, mostly for charges like drug and firearm possession.
Saffron the opossum, seen here in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on Feb. 10, 2024 and Neuty the nutria who was spared being siezed by the state, by concerned politicians in March 2023.
(Left photo provided by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Right photo by Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Department records show agents encountered five snakes, one opossum and an unspecified number of red-eared slider turtles from February to May 2024. The agents’ presence appears to have been a deterrent, as few, other than Eurrell Johnson, who was caught toting a 3 to 4-foot alligator down Bourbon Street on Feb. 15, have recently dared to bring their pets to the famous strip.
In all seven of the animal encounters, agents slapped the owners with a citation. Four creatures were confiscated, while three others were left with their owners. Only one owner, Greco, was arrested, having broken multiple city codes, according to the state’s incident report.
Mixed reactions
Jeff Dorson, executive director of the Humane Society of Louisiana, said he supports enforcement of laws keeping animals off the strip.
“Wild animals and Bourbon street aren’t a good mix,” said Dorson. “The noise, the crowd, that’s the opposite of how these animals like to survive: away from people in wilderness. Not on Bourbon Street.”
Christian Pendleton, a commissioner with the French Quarter Management District and general manager of Brennan’s restaurant, said the change to Bourbon Street has been welcome.
“This is a neighborhood first. This is people’s homes first. This is people’s businesses first,” he said. “Snakes can really freak people out.”
Some of the enforcement has drawn criticism. When Saffron the opossum was swept up in the Carnival 2024 dragnet, a petition to “bring Saffron home” to his owner William Voiles drew nearly 14,000 signatures, as New Orleanians accused the state of overreaching into the private relationship between a man and his pet.
Once she was released from jail, Greco attempted to continue caring for Sonny during its stay on the Northshore. After informing Wildlife Agent Jimmie Daniel that rats irritate Sonny’s stomach, Greco arranged a meetup with Daniel at the Shell station beside the Twin Span Bridge to provide three live rabbits for the python’s consumption, state records show.
In an August interview, Greco said she had yet to receive an update on the snake’s whereabouts. She didn’t return calls last week.
“I hope she isn’t dead, but it’s been almost two years now,” Greco then said.
Though citations involving animals are down, the creatures haven’t disappeared from Bourbon Street entirely, Pendleton said.
Just last week, Pendleton said he spotted two people riding Segways down the busy strip with snakes wrapped around their necks.
“You’re like, ‘Ugh. Here we go again,’” Pendleton said.