Jeff,



Thanks for providing the link to read the article...It is simply amazing to me (but not a surpise) that the article even cites the information provided by the Humane Society US (HSUS)...But it does continue the fear "propaganda" of the AR agenda...Scare the American public into legislative action to curtail the "threat" of pythons in the US.



This is what I'm talking about...according to the HSUS in the article, “at least 12 people have been killed in the United states by pet pythons since 1980”…Really? The HSUS was all over that story (probably contacted by the news channel for comment-they have to keep the "storyline" going) in less than a few hours! They must be keeping track of herp related deaths in the US…Just like the media keeps the “score” in Iraq & Afghanistan…



Ummm, let’s see…



According to the NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 41,059 people died 2007 in the US from vehicle accidents (mean = 112 per day) with 3,800 alone occurring in the month of July.



The National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NHTSA) reports the annual average of fatalities (national vital statistics system special mortality file, 2003-2004) due to non-crash incidents for children 14 and under are: 27 (hyperthermia), 5 (asphyxia-closed windows), 4 (object strike) and 3 (carbon monoxide poisoning-vehicle exhaust).



According to the National Vital Statistics Report of 2006 from the CDC, 5,298 persons in the US died from injuries at work (mean = 14.5 per day) and 569 women died of maternal causes (mean = 1.6 per day) - not including all deaths occurring to pregnant women. Also, of note is that in 2006, some 6,225 people died in the US as a result of a bacterial inflammation of the intestines (enterocolitis) that was acquired in HOSPITALS and OTHER HEALTH CARE INSTITUTIONS (mean = 17 per day)!



The CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control reports that in 2005 some 5,686 persons in the US between the ages of 10 to 24 years old died as a result of homicide (mean = 16 per day).



Information from the Wilderness Medical Society is that during the period of 1991-2001 some 533 persons in the US died from hornet, bee or wasp sting (mean = 0.14 per day) and only 57 from venomous snake bite (mean = 0.06 per day) during the same period.



According to the National Lightning Safety Institute, 756 persons in the US died from lightning strike (mean = 0.16 per day) with 126 occurring in Florida (number one) during the period of 1990-2003.



It’s a good thing that we have the HSUS to be Johnny-on-the-spot to provide us with the PERILOUS threat of fatality (12 total) from pythons in the US during the past 29 YEARS (mean = 0.001 per day)! To put this in perspective, according to data from the Florida Museum of Natural History over a 337 YEAR period (1670-2007), some 54 persons in the US have died as a result of shark attack (mean = 0.0004 per day). Finally, according to data from the US Census Bureau for the year 2000 (100% data), there were 281,053,906 persons in the United States and a total of 12 of them died from python attack in the last 29 years!



THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT HUMAN FATALITY FROM PYTHONS IS STATISTICALLY INSIGNIFICANT!!! Meaning the data of 12 fatalities total in 29 years is absolutely meaningless and provided ONLY to support the AR agenda!



Lions and tigers and bears…OH MY!



Later,

Jim.
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CSRAJim

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