I agree it's important to present out view from a scientific point. It's also important to have credible people from this area support it. I expect there to be a good amount of information turned in on our behalf in this area. Those who oppose us have already been successfully using this strategy . There will be plenty of "expert" impute to counter our views .

Ultimately this is an argument that comes down to pure speculation. It's a basic case of yes they can / no they can't. If this is how the final determination is made it will come down to how who's ever holding the pen see's one side as opposed to the other. It's going to be very subjective.

On the topic of the pythons ability to expand it's current range from the everglades across the US. Again its not really a point that can be anything more then speculated on. And how much relevance does it really have ?

What we do know is that Burmese pythons already live in virtually every state and have for decades. To date only one feral population is known. This population by most indications was established many years ago under ideal conditions. Everywhere else across the country after decades of private ownership the only place pythons are or have ever been breeding is in a cage. There has not been a single documented case of even one specimen surviving any length of time on it's own let alone a population establishing anywhere outside of South Florida. Combine this with the fact that there are no incidents of these animals ether feral or escaped associated physically harming a member of the general public . Again this involves a large number of privately owned animals over a long time frame. These numbers show an excellent record that overall indicates they present a very low risk to both the public and the environment. To me this a critical element to this debate as it's the only one based in fact and not possibility.

Ernie Eison
westwoodreptiles.com

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• The reality of our situation............ - thecaiman, Tue Feb 26 07:07:13 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - wstreps, Tue Feb 26 14:00:50 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - thecaiman, Tue Feb 26 17:09:38 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - TexasReptiles, Tue Feb 26 17:44:36 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - thomas davis, Tue Feb 26 20:06:34 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - wstreps, Wed Feb 27 18:18:04 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - thecaiman, Wed Feb 27 20:02:03 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - marcp, Sat Mar 1 19:22:24 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - Carlton, Thu Feb 28 13:11:27 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - Carlton, Thu Feb 28 13:58:38 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation............ - wstreps, Thu Feb 28 19:01:10 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation........ - natsamjosh, Thu Feb 28 16:45:47 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation........ - Carlton, Thu Feb 28 17:31:44 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation........ - natsamjosh, Thu Feb 28 18:54:41 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation........ - Carlton, Fri Feb 29 12:15:53 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation........ - thecaiman, Thu Feb 28 18:16:48 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation........ - natsamjosh, Thu Feb 28 18:40:14 2008
• RE: The reality of our situation........ - thecaiman, Thu Feb 28 22:16:03 2008
• You really are Dave Mustaine - MadAxeMan, Fri Feb 29 07:36:13 2008
• RE: You really are Dave Mustaine - thecaiman, Fri Feb 29 07:52:26 2008
• RE: You really are Dave Mustaine - wstreps, Fri Feb 29 08:33:01 2008
• RE: You really are Dave Mustaine - thecaiman, Sun Mar 2 07:30:12 2008
• Thanks... - jscrick, Thu Feb 28 23:42:46 2008