I’ve just been reading through the mountain of threads concerning S373 thanks to Jonathan Brady coming over to the Boa Forum to let us know the real action is over here in the Burmese forums!! I’ve always considered myself fairly intelligent and reasonably logical but I still can’t get my head wrapped around the “real” reasons for this legislation. I am a Lower Florida Keys and New York homeowner (yes, snowbird!!) and I am all for protecting the Florida Everglades and the Keys from non-indigenous species. That being said, I am not a supporter of non-indigenous species anywhere but as someone that would like to protect the fragile ecosystems of the Florida Everglades and the Keys I have to ask the question…..Why have pythons and boas been singled out as the “poster” child for this supposed Everglades clean-up when there are far more damaging species currently residing and doing far more damage everyday as we speak in these environments? It seems obvious but if protecting the Everglades was really the concern, feral pigs and feral cats would be at the top of the list along with hundreds of other mammals, reptiles, fish and plants that are currently far more damaging. Could the real reason be POLITICAL?? Is the State of Florida and the Everglades National Park ultimately looking to tap into Federal Grant money to balloon the ENP budget to wage a new campaign to clean up the Everglades after the Everglades was declared “cleaned” up in 2007? Are the “scientists” and politician’s just using Pythons and Boas as a means to that end? Even though I am a “Boa Breeder,” I do not want to see the Everglades over run with non-indigenous species and as such I believe Florida has it’s priorities out of kilter with reality! This is especially true in light of the fact that Florida Fish and Wildlife already has very serious laws outlining the keeping of Reptiles of Concern. There hasn’t been enough time to measure the affect the current Florida laws have had and certainly, if one set of laws haven’t worked……what on God’s earth makes you think making more laws will have a different affect?? So once again I have to ask the question……Is this Legislation really about concern over the Everglades?? I’m not ready to throw Florida under the bus but how does banning pythons and boas nationwide have any connection to what is very obviously a lower Florida problem? Florida Fish and Wildlife have come up with a solution in their current laws covering the Reptiles of Concern yet the scientists and politician’s involved seem hell bent on not giving it time to work? Do you really believe the current Legislation being considered by the United States Senate and Congress is actually going to help “clean” up the Florida Everglades? Maybe I’m not as logical as I once thought!!
The second issue I’d like to address is the recent cold snap and it’s affect on the current population of pythons in the Everglades. While I would expect a fairly significant death rate of the feral Burmese pythons in the Everglades from out and out freezing to death, I have found as a boa breeder at least, that respiratory problems manifest themselves from weeks to months after exposure to the cold. I think that mortality will be just as high months from now as it was immediately after the recent Florida freeze. While the immediate counting of live and dead Burmese pythons in the Everglades is important, I think more significantly is the longer term affects of the cold on the resident population and I would expect to see increasing numbers of dead animals in the next few months. I think it’s very significant that the telemetry tracking was stopped in early February as I believe a significant number of “tagged” Burmese pythons will succumb to respiratory infections weeks and months from now. I think it’s just one more “slanted” fact that will continue the bias we’ve seen in the publishing of more “scientific” papers!!

Burke Reptiles


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Tom Burke
www.BurkeReptiles.com

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