Reptile & Amphibian Forums

All Florida Burmese Pythons that were tagged for the invasive python study have been found dead. The USFWS has been holding off on releasing this information to the public. That is the information I have from close inside sources. I am not stating this as absolute fact, but my sources are usually very reliable.

It is my belief that the government scientists and officials may be withholding this information deliberately, until USFWS can get the 9 species of snakes declared injurious under the Lacey Act and therefore banned without the representation and input of the citizens of the USA. If this information came out now, the boas and pythons could not be declared injurious under the Lacey Act.

I hereby call upon US Federal Government Scientists Gordon Rodda, Frank Mazzotti, and Skip Snow to release this information regarding the number of deaths of all tagged snakes immediately.

I also hereby call on the Secretary of the Department of the Interior Ken Salazar and USFWS Director Sam Hamilton to release this information regarding the number of deaths of all tagged snakes immediately and halt any Lacey Act actions based upon any false or misleading evidence.

Your source is somewhat wrong but I can't discuss the specifics just yet. The results will be published soon in a peer-reviewed journal. The details on every python found from the time of the cold front until early February will be made public ASAP.

There is no conspiracy here. We've been working nights and weekends to get this published ASAP and we are looking to submit it to a journal with a quick turnaround time.

This has been hashed out on other forums and from the reactions I've read it sounds like this is a lose-lose situation for us. Some people want the data out ASAP with no peer review while others want it done carefully with peer review. We prefer to be careful and we hope people understand that.

Mike