PBS rarely lets me down with their scientific accuracy in their Nature or NOVA programs, and this was no exception. That video was doing what it should -- fairly and accurately highlighting a SAD state of affairs in southern Florida. ANY invasives due to human action is shameful, and in several of the cases involved, it was due specifically to the pet trade. 400 documented established alien species in southern Florida. 400!!! I'm certain that a great many of that total number can link their origins back to the live animal trade.

Incredible biodiversity losses can and will be sustained due to these follies. The amphibian chytrid fungus came from invasive African-clawed frogs being released where they shouldn't as far back as the 1930s, and we're just, in the last 12 years, starting to see its grand devastating effects. Who knows what pathologies we could see in the future from the Burms, Chameleons, Varanids, Tegus, and other exotics established in the U.S.

The unfortunate thing is that, ultimately, none of this would have ever happened had the pythons been there in the first place -- in the hands of irresponsible breeders or overly casual pet owners. Ultimately, the pet trade is responsible for their and hundreds of other exotic species establishments in South Florida. As the PBS video shows, dealers and breeders should have never left exotics alone in a reptile breeding warehouse during a hurricane. A no brainer. They should have been trucked out to a safer temporary location. Otherwise, of course, escapes would happen.

What's even scarier than just the Burmese Pythons are the certain possibilities of endangered fauna like American Crocs being wiped out by Nile Monitors...who again, wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the irresponsible side of the pet trade.

If you place great trust and enormous ecological responsibility on the shoulders of irresponsible people with unproven results, you get what you asked for. Pythons and other exotics should be regulated. (Note, I did not say "banned"...but certainly more regulated.)

It is something that the pet industry should have foreseen and self-regulated...but when you don't regulate yourself, you're left with the regulations that others decide...aka, the government proposing bans.

If you want to be angry and annoyed at anyone, it should be at the reckless dealers and breeders who have released invasives (like the Phelsuma shown in the video) so that they could harvest them later. Find out who they are and write them letters. Who knows if replacement will happen if these lizards spread wider? Day Geckos, in many ways, are the ecological equivalents of Anoles. Is it possible that replacement could occur to some of our native Anole populations? Certainly. And that's just one single example.

Also, I don't think the video was suggesting that automobile accidents have occurred, but was suggesting that it seems an inevitable event. Could a 200-lb 15-foot snake stretched out across a highway cause a problem? Yes, and ONE injury or death due to this human-caused invasive would be too many.

I hope the pet trade learns from their mistakes (because, like it or not, the buck ultimately stops there), and I hope everyone here watches this video honestly and objectively. I further hope that all people will be inspired to do something about stopping the spread of exotics and invasives.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1411970145/

DR
Suboc.com

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