She's talking about a newspaper article that very few people read and remember. The big stories on the televised news statements NEVER mention the cats. The fact that I used the word "never" was my fault and is true but the TRUTH is the cats are NEVER mentioned in the big ones people see and remember. In congress at the time of testimony none OF OUR ADVERSARIES mentioned the cats as an invasive problem but the python eating the rat was used to demonstrate how the pythons are wiping out all endangered species within the Park and other areas. Ron Rozar is the guy hired to look for Pythons on Key Largo. I believe that only the 2 original Pythons have ever been found there. One of those had eaten the rat that she says I denied happened. Actually there is no sound proof that the Pythons are even injurious in the first place as they haven't been here or at least haven't been studied long enough. As far as the other 8 species on the proposed list includes 2 species of Anaconda that have never been even imported into the U.S. and I personally have never even seen one. I believe that the Pythons will not endanger anything, populations of them will stabalize based on the available prey base and the weather, become a tourist attraction like alligators over time, and in time likely be protected by law. Before she says I declared this a factual notice I said I believe not it's true. If, in fact the Pythons have been here for much longer than Hurricane Andrew as some have said they seem to have had little if any impact on anything other than they eat a great variety of prey items. Additionally the young ones are a well documented food item for many native wildlife species as well. The good Doc has said we have a greater chance to eliminate the Pythons than we do pigs and cats. I know what she meant by that but in light of her nitpicking it is a fase statement that she may believe only because she knows little to nothing about it. The Everglades Wilderness Area is about 4,000 square miles and the fact is there is NO chance for man to accomplish eradication of the Pythons so that statement is false. The whole area has very few roads and traveling in the Glades is rough on foot. At least one Python was caught by fisherman in extreme SW Florida by the Shark River. This is an area so remote it's only accessible by boat. I could go back as Jon and Josh have done and pick apart single statements or take her words out of context as I did regarding the pigs, cats, and Pythons in this post but I see no point in it. The brilliant scientist Dr. Rodda who co-authored the now famous Python Map couldn't even put a dent in the Boiga irregularis population on Guam which is heavily populated and only a few hundred square miles at best in size. The ban is based on the premise of getting rid of them and by banning them will prevent any new invasion. This info is for the Doc not you guys because I'm not sure she is even aware of the facts. None of us want to see nonnative animals released into our Parks. Florida has a bad track record not so much with invasives but rampant development. Tell your HSUS pals that until recently developers were actually allowed to buy land with Gopher Tortoises and make a deal with the state that allowed them to entomb the Gophers alive while buying and giving other land to the state. Then for a time they were allowed to trap the tortoises and release them elsewhere. Studies have shown that tortoises like many other herps released in a new area have a high mortality. In other words Florida's record shows that we have many more important conservation issues other than Python's to address yet the Pythons make the big news and we feel like we're being targeted because until recently they thought us an easy target...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

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