Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Stop Florida Reptile Ban Now!

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will meet September 9th, 10th and 11th. On the agenda will be Reptiles of Concern and whether to ban them administratively this year. Please don't let this happen! What happens in Florida will have repercussions across the country. We need everyone to weigh in on this and send an email to the FWC Commissioners. Even if you are not a Florida resident you can sign the letter as a potential stakeholder. The Humane Society of the United States has been mischaracterizing the issue and spreading inaccurate statistics. The Reptile Nation needs to be heard from coast to coast on this important debate.

USARK President, Andrew Wyatt will be traveling to Florida to attend the meeting. Let the FWC hear the voice of the Reptile Nation prior to his arrival. We have a very good argument to make, but it will be much more convincing if we get a big email push from the Nation. Just follow the link below to our instant email tool. It is as easy as filling in your info and pushing the submit button. Do it now!

Click here to email FWC and Gov Crist

http://usark.org/campaign.php?id=8

This is a public meeting. We urge all Florida residents and stakeholders to come to the meeting and express your concerns. Our issues are on the agenda for the afternoon of the 9th.

Time:

8:30 a.m.

Date:

September 9-11, 2009

Place:

Mission Inn
10400 County Road 48
Howey-in-the-Hills, FL 34737
Phone: (352) 324-3101
Fax: (352) 324-2636
Website: http://www.missioninnresort.com/

I'm going to my herp meeting tonight to hear Shawn Heflick, one of the Everglades python hunters. I'm also going to to the FWC meeting if I can. Should I post an update here? If it's not appropriate, I'm sure the folks at KS will let me know!

Surprisingly enough, I've been emailing one of the python people at FWC, as some of their info on their flyer was inaccurate. He agreed and changed it. Seems sensible enough and he was also reacting to the congressional stance where they said the Burms were "creating havoc" in the environment. He said he's never seen that.

My issue was that the flyer said that Burms have no natural predators, and that has been changed.

>>Surprisingly enough, I've been emailing one of the python people at FWC, as some of their info on their flyer was inaccurate. He agreed and changed it. Seems sensible enough and he was also reacting to the congressional stance where they said the Burms were "creating havoc" in the environment. He said he's never seen that.
>>
>> My issue was that the flyer said that Burms have no natural predators, and that has been changed.

Wow, this is good news. Just yesterday I fired off an email to FWC addressing these two exact points. The claim that the burms are devastating the ecosystem is bad enough, but obviously that's not a simple issue, so those making the claim can dance around the fact there is no objective evidence to support it. The "no natural predator" claim we keep seeing is just an outright lie. The question is, why would a FWC flyer contain such a blatant lie in the first place??? Any imbecile knows that birds of prey, indigo/king snakes, cats, alligators, fish, egg-eating mammals all eat snakes and/or snake eggs. The thing that cracks me up is that the USGS/NPS actually released a picture of an ALLIGATOR EATING A PYTHON along with all the propaganda about how pythons are at the top of the food chain and have no natural predators.

I think it's technically true about the "natural" predator thing since no Indian predators have been released into Fl., but it's hugely misleading. Aand no egg-laying mammals are in Fl. Is there such thing as an egg-laying mammal? Is a monotreme a mammal?

>>I think it's technically true about the "natural" predator thing >>since no Indian predators have been released into Fl., but it's >>hugely misleading.

That's the excuse they use when someone points out there are many animals in the Everglades that will eat Burms. Of course, it still makes no sense. Doesn't anyone with half of a brain know that animals that DON'T EXIST in the Everglades cannot eat animals that do exist in the Everglades?

>Aand no egg-laying mammals are in Fl. Is there such thing as an >egg-laying mammal? Is a monotreme a mammal?

Yes, looks like it is. (Just looked it up.) I didn't realize there was a potential problem with pet platypus/platypuses/platypi in Florida.

Platypus?

Ok, I just saw where you put Platypus...