When the government strikes: How California sank its fangs into a snake aversion trainer
California-based entrepreneur Jake Molieri has always been sure of one thing: No matter what his future held, it would involve animals. Since he was a little boy growing up in Northern California, he had a deep love for animals, and not just your typical dogs and cats. Jacob is a fan of everything from amphibians to exotic birds—he even owns seven of the latter, including parrots.
As he explained:
I’ve always had a passion for wildlife and biology. When I was younger, I was a volunteer at Lindsay Wildlife Museum for nearly six, seven years. I worked with mostly insects, amphibians, arthropods, and that kind of blew up my fascination more. I also have been involved with wildlife since a young age because my grandfather was a really big traveler around the world. He was a big game hunter involved in the conservation aspect.
When he started college at California Polytechnic State University in 2016, majoring in biology felt like a natural fit. When he wasn’t in school during the summer months, he returned home to Sacramento and earned money doing snake removal and snake aversion training for families and dogs. Eventually, he turned this seasonal job into his full-time career, launching his business, SnakeOut.
Sacramento is the ideal place for someone in the snake business since the region is home to a variety of slithering creatures, including the infamous native rattlesnake. There is never a shortage of customers, and SnakeOut always stays busy. Over the years, the company has grown by leaps and bounds.
For snake removal services, Jake charges anywhere from $50 to as much as $500, depending on how many and what type of snakes are involved. For the most part, SnakeOut is a one-man operation, aside from a few volunteers who help every now and then.
But the most lucrative part of Jacob’s business is rattlesnake aversion training for dogs. To protect dogs and give their owners peace of mind, Jake uses safety courses to teach dogs to identify and, most importantly, avoid these dangerous animals.
The training simulates encounters using live snakes, which, as a safety precaution, are given tiny muzzles that Jacob jokingly calls “snuzzles.” The exposure helps dogs familiarize themselves with the smells, sounds, and appearance of the snakes, and they receive a very light static pulse via a collar that trains them to avoid the venomous animals.
Jacob has trained over 700 dogs, including K-9s that work with local law enforcement. Surprisingly, with all the trainings he has conducted over the years, Jacob has only ever been bitten by a snake one time. In fact, working with snakes is not the part of his work he fears most. “Honestly, I tell everybody, I’m like more intimidated by 90% of people’s pets than I am by the snakes. I already understand our relationship. The snake’s relationship is just give me space, don’t touch me,” he says.
The snake aversion classes aren’t just for dogs; he also works with children and families to make sure they know how to identify and stay out of harm’s way.
There is no doubt that SnakeOut provides a vital service to the community. And yet, in 2023, just a few years after the business began to take off, the police came to Jake’s house with a search warrant.
A regulatory scheme
Jake is not some sort of hardened criminal. If anything, he’s a bit of a local hero, showing up to protect families and pets from snake threats. But thanks to a confusing regulatory scheme, Jake found himself the target of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
In California, it is legal to own up to two Northern California native rattlesnakes—the same snakes Jake uses for his aversion training. However, the CDFW prohibits the commercialization of rattlesnakes. Because Jake charges for his aversion training classes, his business was deemed illegal by CDFW. Instead of contacting Jake and providing this information, Jake and his local attorney believe he was the target of a sting operation that ultimately led to him being treated like a criminal.
Jake was not trying to pull one over on the CDFW. Like the dozens of businesses that provide snake aversion training in the area, Jake publicly advertised his services and even worked with local law enforcement. Yet, the CDFW never went after anyone else—just Jake and SnakeOut.
Because the regulation only prohibits commercialization, Jake was told he could continue providing aversion training with native rattlesnakes, so long as he does it for free. This is completely unfeasible for Jake as it inhibits his ability to earn a living. If he wants to keep his business afloat, his only other option is to switch to using non-native albino rattlesnakes.
Using non-native albino snakes is also not a viable option for Jake, as it presents a host of issues. First, these snakes aren’t as effective in training because they are non-native species to Northern California. Training dogs to identify and avoid this species is not a foolproof way to ensure they translate this training to the native rattlesnakes. Not to mention, albino snakes are also more hazardous to work with.
Albino snakes are more sensitive to light, and being outside for the training courses induces stress and causes erratic behavior, which increases the risk of a strike that places both dogs and trainers in harm’s way.
Trying to get answers out of the CDFW to make sure he was in full compliance with the law proved to be extremely frustrating for Jake. The regulations were not just complicated, they were illogical, as were the CDFW’s proposed solutions. Jacob was told he needed to apply for a scientific collecting permit, which would authorize possession of native wildlife for educational use. However, this permit still prohibits commercialization, so even if he obtained it, it wouldn’t help him or his business at all.
As Jake puts it, “It feels like you’re trying to play ball and you throw the ball to them, they take it, they pop it with a knife and then throw a brick at your head, and you think, ‘I can’t win with you folks.’”
Jake did his due diligence and applied for the permit in 2023. After several years of waiting, the CDFW has continued to delay processing of Jake’s permit application, even though the law required the department to make a decision within 100 days.
Not only are the CDFW’s actions illegal according to their own rules, but this delay has left SnakeOut in regulatory limbo and forced Jake to entirely redesign his businesses around unclear and restricted regulations that are arbitrarily enforced.
What the CDFW is doing is unconstitutional on multiple fronts. First, the Constitution protects every individual’s right to earn a living without burdensome regulations that allow the government to favor certain businesses over others. SnakeOut has suffered as a result of Jake being forced to choose between giving his services away for free or facing regulatory penalties. Meanwhile, others who offer the same services have been allowed to conduct business as usual without interference from the CDFW. This is a grave violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of equal treatment under the law.
The CDFW’s actions also raise First Amendment concerns. First Amendment protections give individuals, like Jake, the right to teach and disseminate knowledge regardless of whether they charge for these services.
Jake was charged with four misdemeanors and the CDFW was prepared to go after him with the full extent of the law. A year after the debacle began, the government even claimed Jake missed a court date and showed up to haul him off to jail. Fortunately, the charges were dropped.
It was through a fellow bird-lover that Jake was connected with PLF: falconer Peter Stavrianoudakis.
Jake’s local attorney was familiar with Peter’s case and put the two men in contact. When Peter told Jake about our work, he was intrigued but skeptical that PLF could help.
Jake remembers thinking, “There’s no way this company is going to take on a case about snakes. But then you guys responded and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is going to turn into something.’”
Jake was right.
Jake and PLF are joining forces to fight back against the CDFW’s unconstitutional regulatory scheme.
When asked what winning this case would mean to him, Jake said, “It’s not about the money for me—I don’t care about that. I just want to feel like I can do my training the right, correct way, and train the dogs without biased enforcement. All the other companies are working, but I’m the one guy who got picked on.”
As Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Anastasia Boden says, “Speech is protected under the First Amendment—paid or unpaid. Small business owners like Jake deserve to speak and work freely, without fearing that charging a fee could put them on the wrong side of the law.”
