Yes, it is a VERY good idea to attach ANY valid credibility to a media piece. Very very good, indeed.



And to the original poster,..... be very careful with media folk. They are NOT to be trusted. By this I mean,.. try to be unbiased, yes,.. but be very selective with what you say about any dangers concerning burmese or other pythons. Media people have a tendency to ignore positive facts and only focus on negative facts to make it more "Shock value" appealing. I have been interviewed a number of times and have gone to watch the news only to find out that only the scary things concerning exotic reptiles was left. Anything else I had said remained on the cutting room floor. Very very rarely have I ever delt with media and it resulted in an un-biased, information piece. In fact,....... never actually. There has always been some level of 'leaning toward the shock content' aspect of it. And the reporters will cleverly try to steer you into these areas too. So try to focus on the good things. Leave the rest to Rob.





>>I direct a wildife center and I have been interviewed hundred of times from various angles of "dangerous wildlife". Much of the information to the media is utterly bogus. First, there are NO recorded accounts of a burm ingesting a human. Fatalities? Yes, however, they are FEW AND FAR between when you look at the literally tens of thousands that are currently kept as pets (just in the U.S. alone). WHen you compare these stats with the number of fatalities regarding dogs, there is NO comparison; dogs account for a far higher percentage of human fatalities. If kept responsibly, like any animal, there should be no concerns. But, unfortunately, for every good and responsible owner there are just as many irresponsible owners....funny thing is, even with the many irresponsible owners, there are few recorded fatalities which shows that burmese pythons are VERY SLOW TO BITE their owners. Please feel free to pass my name on should they want some stats.

>>

>>Rob Carmichael, Director/Curator

>>The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation

>>400 Hastings Road

>>Lake Forest, IL 60045

>>847-615-4388
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It isn't "Ideas" that fail or succeed,... it is the "Sytstems" which are instilled to launch and sustain the idea that either fail or succeed.>[Me.]

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