Fla. Python Owners Could Face Jail For Releasing Snakes Into Wild (AP/WKMG

[eppur_se_muova]

POSTED: 5:31 pm EDT April 12, 2006
UPDATED: 5:45 pm EDT April 12, 2006

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida's newest problem is roughly the circumference of a telephone pole. It has no toes. It snacks on rabbits.

It's the Burmese python. And in South Florida, the problem is growing in number and in feet.

"Last year, we caught 95 pythons," said Skip Snow, a biologist with Florida Everglades National Park. That's not counting the 13-footer that exploded after trying to eat an alligator, or two others that got loose and ate a Siamese cat and a turkey.

To keep the problem from sliding further out of control, state Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Titusville, wants to add Burmese pythons to Florida's list of regulated reptiles. His bill (HB 1459) could force python buyers to complete state training, buy a license and face jail time if they let their snakes loose.

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more: http://www.local6.com/news/8650226/detail.html


Related story: Biologist battles killer pythons (Reuters/CNN)

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Florida (Reuters) -- The man leading efforts to eradicate giant Burmese python snakes from Everglades National Park sounds almost fearful, and certainly not optimistic, when he talks about the chances of wiping out an invasive species he calls "the enemy."

That is partly because Skip Snow, a 54-year-old veteran wildlife biologist with the U.S. National Park Service, says he doesn't know how many of the slithery monsters are in the swampy Florida park.

"It could be literally thousands," Snow told Reuters. "It could be a number I don't want to know. It could be scary."
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What keeps him up at night is the threat the prowling pythons pose to a delicate subtropical wildlife haven with a whole catalogue of rare or endangered native species.
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http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/04/12/killer.pythons.reut/index.html


Related story: Florida town taxed by plague of iguanas (AP/CNN)
Friday, April 14, 2006; Posted: 11:14 a.m. EDT (15:14 GMT)
BOCA GRANDE, Florida (AP) --
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During the last three decades, the resort community on Florida's Gulf Coast has been overrun by the black, spiny-tailed, nonnative lizards that demolish gardens, nest in attics and weaken beach dunes with burrows.

Last month, Lee County commissioners agreed to create a special tax for Boca Grande to cover costs of studying the infestation on the barrier island of Gasparilla, where scientists estimate there are up to 12,000 iguanas on the loose, more than 10 for every year-round resident.
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For some people, they've really taken over, climbing into attics, into vents and even into their toilets," {Diaz} said.
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Kevin Enge, an exotic species expert with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said he believes the iguana was introduced to Boca Grande in the 1970s by a boat captain who brought a few from Mexico for his kids but released them when they grew too large. Their population exploded because each female iguana can lay up to 75 eggs a year.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/14/iguana.tax.ap/index.html

EDIT to add story links

[NNadir]

1. Good.

[kitkatrose]

2. Jeez, it's about damn time. n/t

[demosincebirth]

3. Why don't they just ban them instead of regulating them?

[bumblebee1]

4. I'm not a pet snake fan.

The problem isn't the snake itself. It's the irresponsible owners who buy the snake. They release it into the wild because the owner becomes disenchanted with it. Pythons (as well as other snakes) are exotic pets. There should be a training class before purchase.

[blindpig]

5. Good luck with that.

The reptile dealers will fight it tooth and nail. South Florida has the greatest concentration of reptile dealers in the US, wholesale and retail. They are undoubtably the reason there are 20 some introduced species of herps in south Florida. With business friendly bu$hies in charge......well bizness is bizness. Just another case of businesses externalizing their cost, in this case he money saved by acting in a less than diligent manner.