By Angus Loten
Snake breeders, pet shop owners and other reptile entrepreneurs are seething over a proposed ban on the import and interstate trade of pythons, anacondas and other snakes by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, saying the science behind the move is flawed.
Last month, the agency submitted a final rule outlining the ban to the White House for review by the Office of Management and Budget.
Government scientists say the snakes pose a threat to native ecosystems if set free, consuming everything from plants to birds to alligators. They’re seeking to add nine new species to the Injurious Wildlife List of the Lacey Act, which would prevent the snakes from being imported from abroad or sold across state lines.
About one million Americans already own the types of snakes that would be covered by the ban, according to the United States Association of Reptile Keepers, a Wilmington, N.C., trade group that includes more than 10,000 snake breeders and sellers.
Annual trade in these snakes is estimated at more than $100 million, the group says. Some rare species can sell for more than $70,000.
“If enacted, this rule would destroy thousands of businesses and place nearly one million U.S. citizens in jeopardy of becoming felons under the Lacey Act,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday.
It says the ban is being driven by “fundamentally flawed” studies by U.S. Geological Survey invasion biologists who say the snakes could adapt to climates across the southern U.S., claims attacked by the National Geographic Society, the University of Florida and other experts in a recent letter to the U.S. Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee.
A final decision on the rule is expected this summer.
Last week, Bronx Zoo officials retrieved a cobra that went missing for nearly two weeks from the reptile house without incident.
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