The biggest thing I've taken away from your contributions to this thread is that you are not in favor of the proposed legislation. This gives me hope that not every person working within the DOI isn't on board with the agenda of Senator Nelson and Secretary Salazar. My question though is this, why aren't you in favor of it? Is it because you do not believe measures to restrict interstate transport will have any effect on wild populations, or because you don't want the lawmakers overstepping their bounds? I suppose another way to ask this is, would you be supportive of the USFWS listing these animals as injurious (same effect, different means)?

I've grown somewhat accustomed to the criticism. I like to know what everyone thinks about what we do. I think that in any debate it's important to know what the other side of the story is and the reasons behind the opposing beliefs (if we do have any opposing beliefs...).

I'm not in favor of the legislation for a number of reasons. First of all, I think the herp trade is being "picked on" because it is relatively unpopular. I hate feral cats as much as anyone and it's hard to justify python legislation without cat legislation. One of the flaws with democracy is that sometimes it's more of a popularity contest than anything else.

Second, I don't think it's a federal issue. However, I think it's really important that some southern states do something similar to what Florida has done and I'm not sure they would do it on their own. Any reason pythons couldn't establish in coastal areas around Brownsville, TX? I'm not saying one way or another but I think we should be careful. I like the permitting system because it discourages impulse buys but for people who REALLY want the animals it's not impossible to obtain them. But why should we ban pythons in Alaska, Montana, Maine, etc?

I do support some kind of change I just haven't liked anything that has been proposed. We can't keep letting things become established. Even if some people don't care about invasive species, the reality of the situation is that a lot of people do.

Anyway, I'm not really bothered by the criticism. I just hope people realize that I'm here because I want to be and that alone should imply SOME good will. And I hope someday this is all resolved in a somewhat peaceful way. I think it's going to require compromise (from both sides), hard work, and follow-through, but I'm encouraged by the dialogue we've had so far. I also hope people realize that I'm just one person with very little power to change things. But I do have the inside scoop and will try to provide accurate info that I hope you can trust (at least a little bit) when I can.

Mike

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