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TAMPA TRIBUNE (Florida) 06 July 09 New python-banning law could come from girl's death (Peter Bernard)

For U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, last week's strangulation death of 2-year-old Sumter County girl by a Burmese python was the last straw.

He is proposing legislation that would prohibit people from bringing snakes like that into the United States, or transporting them across state lines. The Florida senator says a minor tweak in current law is all that is needed.

"We can stop the importation by changing this from being a species that is allowed to be imported into a species that is injurious," said Nelson.

On July 1, an 8 1/2 foot python owned by 32-year-old Charles Darnell escaped its enclosure and made it way to Shiunna Hare's crib. Sumter County officials say the little girl died after being bitten and strangled by the pet snake.

Nelson says Florida's current registration and microchip requirement is not enough. He points to the Florida Everglades, where thousands of pythons are estimated to live, as proof the problem is out of control.

"When you have from 150,000 to 180,000 of these snakes just in the Everglades National Park, you can see that the ecological balance of Mother Nature is definitely being upset," said Nelson. He says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has been studying the problem for more than two years. He says it's time to act before an unsuspecting tourist is attacked.

The legislation is in committee now, and Nelson hopes it passes quickly.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jul/06/new-python-banning-law-could-come-girls-death/news-breaking/

" He says it's time to act before an unsuspecting tourist is attacked. "

And how will changing the law prevent this if there's already 150,000 to 180,000 of these snakes in the Everglades National Park ? I saw a story on Fox 4 last night about people dumping thousands of house cats into the everglades because they can`t take of them.

Ernie Eison
WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.

I think the humane thing to do would be to send all feral cats to feed those poor Everglade pythons...Just kidding...well...
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Todd Hughes

C`mon, I love cats.

The focus of the story was on how pet owners are releasing thousands of unwanted pet cats into the glades. The major issue discussed was how the cats wouldn't be able to survive.

Other news burning up SW Florida this week....... Rabid bats on Ft Myers beech, Nile monitors invading Cape corals foreclosed homes and a pit bull attack in Lehigh Acres. This morning it was exotic pet owners and their giant pythons . These story's are on all the news channels.

Ernie Eison
WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.

Posted by: antelope at Wed Jul 8 01:09:47 2009 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by antelope ] Share

I think the humane thing to do would be to send all feral cats to feed those poor Everglade pythons...Just kidding...well...
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Todd Hughes

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lol true not to mention the amount of small native reptiles,birds,etc those ferak killing machines kill.

On Key Largo at the Ocean Reef Club are MANY feral cats that are fed by the residents. Possibly the number exceeds 100 and curiously enough that's located next to the LAST STRONGHOLD for the endangered rat that has been found in the belly of one of the two Burmese that have been found on Key Largo. Feral cats were found in the bellies as well. It's likely the feral cats have been soley responsible for the decimation of the population of the rats in the first place yet the cats are NEVER mentioned in the press. The Herp Industry is being railroaded and no matter what THE BURMESE PYTHONS ARE HERE TO STAY....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

"The Herp Industry is being railroaded and no matter what THE BURMESE PYTHONS ARE HERE TO STAY...."

Actually, according to the map below, produced by the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona, the southern tip of Florida and all of the Everglades are going to be six meters under water.

I think this would solve the Burmese Python problem in the Everglades, but curiously, no one seems to be that concerned about the bigger problem!

Map Source: http://www.geo.arizona.edu/dgesl/research/other/climate_change_and_sea_level/sea_level_rise/sea_level_rise_old.htm

LOL!
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Todd Hughes

IF the global warming hypothesis is correct you are right. IF it happens the pythons possibly could move into central Florida. IF that happens the Burmese problem would be not be high up on our problem list. That's a lot of IF'S but right now our IF problem is the fact they are here and will be here forever IF the sea doesn't rise above the Glades.....LOL
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Webwheeler,

I’d take that map from the UA, Department of Geosciences, with a grain of salt. The reason is that one (only 33 lead authors) of the professors there was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)! His name is Jonathon Overpeck, Ph.D. According to “UA News” (University of Arizona, Office of University Communications), Dr. Overpeck was one of the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. He is also the Director of the UA’s Institute for the Study of Planet Earth and a professor of atmospheric sciences.

According to the UA article (“Nobel Peace Prize Winner has UA Connections”, October 12, 2007), he is quoted as saying “It’s an honor for the scientific community to share this with him.” He continues with, “Vice President Gore, like no other politician, has really taken the time to understand the science and to communicate it. Many in the scientific community feel that the work that Al Gore is doing is very valuable because he’s getting science out to the public in a way that most scientists could only dream of.” Really?

Socio-science equals “pseudo-science” as it is based on the synthesis of sociology and the “hard” science(s) that is agenda based to achieve National Socialism in the United States and “Global Climate Change” (along with biodiversity-invasive species) is one of the propaganda “banners” for this purpose in my opinion. I haven’t researched it (yet) but, I imagine that UA receives its fair share of “grant” money (tax dollars) from the government. Do some research regarding the University of Colorado at Boulder…They receive “grant” funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and is one of the agency members of the U.S. National Committee for the Man and the Biosphere Program(US MAB)!

Another member of the IPCC “team” was Jean Brennen when she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as a Senior Conservation Science Advisor. Jean is now the Senior Climate Change Scientist for the Defenders of Wildlife! The USAID is part of the U.S. State Department and is ALSO listed as an “institutional member” of the US MAB National Committee (Source: The United States man and the Biosphere Program, revised by the US MAB Secretariat, Department of State, January 12, 2000-Link: http://www.state.gov/www/global/oes/mabpamp.html).

Later,
Jim.

PS: So let’s see, the salaries of at least two members of the IPCC’s “team” that helped write the report on global climate change were funded by U.S. tax payers - College professors (with a few exceptions) are paid by the state (tax dollars) and USAID is funded by federal taxes. Now, consider that the IPCC was established by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and received the Nobel Peace Prize (a UN award) that IF implemented on even a national scale WILL HAVE IMMENSE financial implications for ALL U.S. citizens…Does something about this picture seem odd?

Not convinced, go read H.R. 1698, the “Green Bank Act of 2009”…Note who will make up the members of the Board of Directors for this new bank (if enacted) that will be funded by the U.S. taxpayers…Do any of these departments of the federal government ring a bell? Like the Directors of Interior, State, (representative agencies of these departments are ALSO members of the U.S. National Committee for the MAB), etc…

Just wondering…

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CSRAJim

The scientific fact is that the planet has actually been cooling for the last 10 years not warming. Don't put much faith in anything being touted by theses anti-capitalist groups. Truth never gets in their way. They have an agenda and their scientific facts are whatever they feel is neccessary to reach their actual goal.

Did anyone else hear Bill Nelson's audio segment in one the articles about this? Go here to listen to it, it's basically all anti-python this, anti-python that.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/19971310/detail.html
He is pushing hard for this and a total ban.
But what makes him think even more bans and regulations will suddenly solve the problem when people like the father of the 2 year old girl were already keeping ROC without the required permits?

Senator Nelson ranted quite a bit at today's Senate EPW hearing. Scroll down to archived webcasts at this link and you can watch the hearing.

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.AudioVideo

Joe Hiduke
Nautilus Marine

I just watched it. You have to love how Nelson kept saying how pythons had "fangs with fish hooks on them."

Seriously -- all these antagonists, opponents, adversaries of the keeping of non-traditional animals in captivity...they're all nothing but pure Poster Children for our cause.

The blatant blathering of ignorance, speaks volumes for the need to enlighten and educate the citizenry, in order that we may save these very animals from extinction.

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Senator Nelson is obviously expressing his uninformed opinion in a prejudicial manner, with no regard to matters of fact.
That to me is a waste of the Tax Payer's money.

While Senator Nelson is indeed entitled to express any misguided opinion he may have on any subject, he should do it on his own time and not at the Tax Payer's expense.

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I just watched it on youtube. If he moves to ban this "particular species, not constrictors in general" why does S. 373 include all of the species of the genus python? Clever trickery he tries to play on ill-informed senators. His speech, however, was not nearly as blood boiling as the comment by a certain winterhaven I believe it was--calling all owners of burms "perverts" who all feed little puppies and kitties to their snakes and pleasure themselves while doing so. AHHHH! Where do these idiots come from?(what's further, death by python is anythong but slow (which she claims it is), as you all know--and death comes usually by cardiac arrest, not suffocation)

Truth be told, the issue is -- poor decisions, bad parenting by individuals, not a matter of animal behavior and instinct, and not the imagined motivations of people who choose to keep these animals.

Inattentiveness, poor judgment, [lack of] personal responsibility, and poor parenting skills are some of the factors that contribute to preventable "accidents" such as this.

How many children die every year when left unattended in the family car in summer heat? How many get run over/backed over in their own driveway? How many from the family dog? The family gun? How many drown in the family pool?

Like I've said time and time again -- the people calling the tune in this debate make our case. They favor an uninformed and ignorant populace. Dumb it down. Protect us from ourselves. Remove decision making and personal responsibility. Limit our own authority over ourselves. So much easier to control the masses that way.

How are we going to stop these straw man, red herring, fallacious arguments that create the illusion our law makers are working on our behalf, when they are actually doing nothing of the kind? They are in fact, working to further their own interests at our expense.

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Posted by: EricWI at Wed Jul 8 13:02:52 2009 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by EricWI ] Share

Did anyone else hear Bill Nelson's audio segment in one the articles about this? Go here to listen to it, it's basically all anti-python this, anti-python that.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/19971310/detail.html
He is pushing hard for this and a total ban.
But what makes him think even more bans and regulations will suddenly solve the problem when people like the father of the 2 year old girl were already keeping ROC without the required permits?

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He seems terrified of them . Its like he got in to politics to simply ban them without doing much else and considering his record it seems that way lol.

He also misleads other politicians because he claims permits/registration/micro chip doesnt work but he fails to mention its simply NOT enforced here in Florida.

Every speech he gives on this he increases the amount of pythons in Glades. I have been there many times never saw a python but know a woman who reported a large ratsnake as a python siting at the ranger station.
It wasnt done simply out of ignorance and media scare

He seems terrified of them . Its like he got in to politics to simply ban them without doing much else and considering his record it seems that way lol.

He also misleads other politicians because he claims permits/registration/micro chip doesnt work but he fails to mention its simply NOT enforced here in Florida.

Every speech he gives on this he increases the amount of pythons in Glades. I have been there many times never saw a python but know a woman who reported a large ratsnake as a python siting at the ranger station.
It wasnt done simply out of ignorance and media scare
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oops meant "It WAS done simply out of ignorance and media scare"

Irresponsible behavior and irresponsible legislation go hand-in-hand it seems.

When you're in the business of creating law, crafting bad ineffective legislation is always good for business. Always room for some future tweaking. That's what I call job security!

Not funny, but so true. Smacks of planned obsolescence. In this case we can call it intentional legislative maleficence.
Throw the bums out for demagoguery!

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer