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Storms you can't ban; snakes you can

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It shouldn't be hard to win a consensus on banning Burmese pythons from the great state of Florida. These "reptiles of concern," as these enormous sometimes-pet snakes are described by wildlife officials, are getting so much national press and local concern in South Florida that economic development officials must be flinching.



Florida could hardly send a worse message to the upper 47 states and beyond than that Florida is crawling with these snakes that have potential as both pets and killers.



It's already difficult enough to calm newcomers' fears about the potential for hurricanes, though a report Tuesday from scientists at Colorado State University, called the nation's premier hurricane forecasting team, said that the Atlantic will spawn fewer storms this season.



The scientists now expect 10 tropical storms, with just four predicted to become hurricanes and only two of those major hurricanes, according to a news story in USA Today.



The previous forecast was for 11 storms, five hurricanes and two of them major ones; a typical season sees six storms turn into hurricanes.



So far we've had none this hurricane season — a sweet happening for Gov. Charlie Crist, whose property insurance policies revolve in large part around GGF: Great Good Fortune that the state won't be struck by truly dangerous destructive hurricanes as it was four years ago.



Luck has less to do with the python problem, which was brought to national attention by Florida's U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.



It's no longer South Florida's scary little secret that many Floridians apparently have a short fascination span with these exotic reptiles that they buy for pets and then, illegally, release into the wild.



Mr. Nelson has called for a federal ban on importing the snakes, which can grow to 26 feet and 200 pounds and have been known to kill small children and animals not to mention protected species of birds.



They're now threatening Everglades restoration efforts, despite the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's best efforts to enforce rules and keep track of pet pythons now at large. These snakes have no natural predators and so are considered an invasive species, meaning they easily get out of control. More than 110,000 have been imported in to Florida since 1990. Scientists speculate that hundreds were released into the wild after 1992, when Hurricane Andrew shattered many pet shop terrariums.



Of those snakes now at large, six have been caught since the governor ordered a roundup of them last month. And now scientists fear this species is silently slithering northward and could ultimately invade the entire Southeast.



Maybe some pet owners love them, herpetologists respect them, and hunters get a charge out of trapping them. But for the run-of-the-mill Floridian, including us, a ban on bringing them into the country would be one of the smartest things Congress has done in a while.

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