Newspaper editorial - we need you to act today

[Alice]

Today's Orlando Sentinel newspaper has an editorial about the "invasion" of non-native snakes into Florida. I need each of you to read the opinion and then go online and vote on the editorial board's opinion . . . which I hope is a thumbs DOWN. The link to vote is http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/

They post the results in the paper tomorrow. So far less than 50 have voted but the vote is like 92% in favor of banning our snakes. Lets make sure they hear from us!

Text of the editorial follows:

"What we think: Stop the invasion
June 22, 2009
Let's say a snake, originally imported from another country as a pet, gets loose and starts breeding in the wilds of Florida.

Under current law, the federal government can declare that species "injurious," which means it would become illegal to import it. But in typical bureaucratic fashion, such a declaration can take up to four years to complete.

By then, the snake has had plenty of time to become well-established in a place where it doesn't belong.

That's what's happened in the Florida Everglades, where the state is considering putting a bounty on the thousands of hungry Burmese pythons now on the loose in the River of Grass, eating rabbits and even the occasional alligator.

Strangely enough, the government has yet to decide that the Burmese python is "injurious," so U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has introduced a bill that would bypass the bureaucracy and add pythons to the list of banned wildlife.

We're glad Mr. Nelson is on the case, but his measure is way too little and way too late.

Florida and the rest of the nation need a far more comprehensive law to stop the invasion of exotic species into natural places.

A proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives is a move in the right direction.

Introduced by a delegate from Guam, where the non-native brown tree snake has wreaked havoc on native bird populations, the bill would bring some desperately needed logic to animal-import laws.

Instead of waiting until after a non-native species has gotten out of control, the species' risks would have to be assessed before it can be imported into the United States.

This approach might well have saved the Everglades from the python, the Potomac River from the Chinese snakehead fish, and the Mississippi River from the Asian carp.

Predictably, those who make big money from importing and selling exotic wildlife, and who care much less about their products' harm to the environment, are up in arms. Even by today's low standards, their campaign is particularly noxious, implying that the feds are going to kick in doors and wrest away a child's pet gerbil.

No such thing is true. The bill doesn't apply to most domesticated pets, and people who already own snakes, gerbils and other critters would be allowed to keep them. They just couldn't breed them or import more of them until the species' risks for harm were assessed. Even before that determination is made, the bill allows the government to include common and domesticated non-native wildlife on a list of approved species.

Also dubious is the claim that the U.S. pet industry would collapse. Please. We doubt the industry will suffer greatly if a few exotic animals are banned. This is a common scare tactic, one that also conveniently ignores the billions in economic damage and other costs from non-native plants and animals.

It's hard to take the exotic-pet industry seriously when it opposes even Mr. Nelson's modest proposal to ban the import of pythons. The industry's reasoning? Aside from the Burmese python, other types have yet to populate in the wild.

Yet. Implying that we should wait until there's another environmental crisis before doing something.

Florida's Legislature already has shown it doesn't have the stomach for meaningful controls of exotic species, even in a state where the warm climate increases the risk from invaders.

That's why Florida's congressional delegation in Washington needs to get behind a federal law that will get a grip on this growing problem."