Man Brings Snake In Restaurant, Calls It A ‘Service Animal’

Ever see a snake in a restaurant and think to yourself, “Something is wrong with this picture?”

That was the case for Lisa Loeffelholz Pitts, who noticed the slithering creature wrapped around the man in the photo above’s neck and quickly snapped a picture of it.

Since that time, the Daily Mail and other media outlets have picked up on the story, but not because there was a snake in the restaurant, per se, but because of the reason the man gave for its presence.

Here’s the initial story in Pitts’ own words.

“I’m not much of a ranter. Out loud anyway. But this dude came in to the restaurant I was eating at tonight with this snake around his neck. I asked our waiter if there was anything we could do about it, so the manager on duty asked him about it, and this dude claimed it was his Service Animal and the manager let him stay…. Question: is there such a thing as a snake service animal? And if so are they allowed in restaurants with no kind of cage, bag, lead, something to keep it from slithering off? ( which it was doing when they sat down and it tried to go onto the booth behind them!) Just wondering.”

Yes, the man with the snake in the restaurant had to have his slithery friend because it was his service` animal. Naturally, Pitts wasn’t too happy about it, and neither was the man.

According to subsequent comments that she made responding to others on her Facebook feed, the man felt she was rude for taking a picture, to which she felt he was rude for making other people worry about their meals with an unrestrained snake on the premises.

She apparently didn’t stay around long enough to let the feud escalate, though.

“My mom took the girls to the van while I boxed up the food,” she said. “I did say something to him. I wanted to know why he had a snake in the restaurant. That’s when he very loudly told me it was his service animal for his depression. Is said ‘well I am very sorry about that.’ ”

Most commenters felt the man was out of his mind. While the restaurant was not named, Pitts said it was located in Springfield, Missouri.

She also later jokingly called it his “seeing eye snake.”

According to Animal Law Info, the Missouri laws with regard to service animals only mention service dogs specifically, so there’s a very good chance the man in the photo was guilty of a misdemeanor bringing the snake in the restaurant.

What do you think, readers? Should he have been kicked out and/or arrested? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image of snake in restaurant via Lisa Pitts / Facebook, linked above]