SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 02 April 06 Lizards on the loose? Bill offers remedies - Legislator urges photo IDs, costly fees, stiff fines (Stephanie Lambert)

Tallahassee: Making a photo ID for python pets and imposing a $100 annual permit fee for owners are two ways a Vero Beach legislator hopes to fight the unwanted intrusion of invasive reptiles in Florida's natural habitats.

Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Vero Beach, would also like to raise possible fines to as much as $5,000 for people who knowingly let their non-native pets go into the wild.

"These reptiles have become a very serious problem," Poppell said. "We are trying to raise the bar, because we have lizards, iguanas, pythons and constrictors that feel like they are home."

According to Alan Scott, a park ranger at the Florida Everglades National Park, during the past five years, almost 400 pythons alone have been caught in the park.

Poppell's proposal (HB 1459) is currently in the Agriculture & Environment Appropriations Committee and would expand the current law now used to regulate poisonous snakes.

Some pet store owners, like Ron Dupont, the owner of Wild Cargo and Pet Supplies in West Palm Beach, are particularly worried about the new permit costs.

"It will hurt business tremendously," Dupont said. "If people want to buy a $10 snake or lizard it gets rough having to pay for a $100 permit also. It should be more affordable like $10."

Currently, no permits are needed before purchasing reptiles.

"The public needs to get some common sense and make certain if someone wants to own a reptile, they will be responsible with it," Poppell said. "We are not trying to put people out of business, we are simply trying to make sure there is responsible ownership."

His proposal calls for photographs or even embedded chip IDs as a requirement for snakes.

Poppell said the photo ID would be cheaper, and because the pattern designs on the tops of snakes' heads are different, and never change -- as they grow the patterns grow, similar to fingerprints, it would be a great identity card.

According to Poppell, funding would be minimal, with most of the money coming from registration and fines levied.

His main goal is to educate the public.

"We are going to start a program where we already have officers in the field," Poppell said. "A lot will have to do with in-house training. With the bill, we'll be able to elevate penalties, so it's a matter of the enforcement."

The penalty if the reptile escapes would be a misdemeanor and fine.

If released intentionally, the charge would be third-degree felony with a five-year prison sentence and $5,000 fine.

The bill would offer an amnesty for people to call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and turn their unwanted pets in at no cost.

Doria Gordon, the associate director of conservation of science for the Nature Conservancy, thinks the Poppell bill is a great start for a dramatic impact.

"The bill would allow authorities to have better records of the species and expand authority of this growing problem," Gordon said.

Scott Hardin, the exotic-species coordinator for the FWCC, said there is evidence the Burmese pythons and Nile monitor lizards are breeding in the Everglades.

"There have been over 100 Nile monitor lizards captured in the past three years," Hardin said.

"With the Burmese python, they have a wide-ranging diet. If they continue to expand and intersect with other species, the likelihood is very rare, but they could be a danger to humans as well."





http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-freptileapr02,0,3594522.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

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