Ed,
...There is nothing new to all of this. The government and their do-gooder friends in HSUS and PETA and similar idiot groups have been after us for a long time. There was actually a big sting operation back in the 70s that shut down quite a few reptile dealers. Word then was that it would have a lasting effect in shutting down imports of exotic reptiles. All it did was set those dealers back a few years. By the 80s there were again pretty big numbers of exotic reptiles being imported. It seems like every year or two there is another threat that looks like the feds want to shut down the importation and keeping of exotic reptiles and generally they have been uneffective. (though inmportation of many species is now down from the numbers of the past, and this may actually be a good thing) It does get tiresome having to refight the same enemies every couple of years. I have reached the point where I do not get as excited about all this as I used to. I do think that the best thing we can do to protect our rights to keep our snakes is to continue our efforts to educate the public. Every show and tell we do we convert a few more people. Around 12 years ago there was some information going around that the pet industry did a survey and found that one in every forty homes in America had at least one pet reptile. I am sure that there are now lots more people keeping reptile pets. The more of us there are the harder it will be for HSUS and PETA and US Fish and Wildlfe to defeat us.
...I know the numbers of Pythons in the Everglades is nowhere near the rediculous numers that get tossed around. If there really were very many of them there would be snake hunters capturing them in good numbers. AFAIK a few do turn up but there are not enough of them to make them easy enough to find for hunting them to be effective. I think it does not make much difference whether the "Everglades Pythons" came from importer facilities being blown out in hurricanes or from incidental escapes from those facilities or from private owners releasing the animals. The overall result is that it has created a problem that has been blown out of proportion and used effectivley as a propaganda tool by our enemies.
Jeff

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