Please help save the burmese pythons!

[Denial]

Alright everyone. Please help write your own letters to the florida senator helping us save the importation of burmese pythons into the usa. If they stop with burmese pythons then reticulated pythons and anacondas will be sure to follow. I fight for all reptile keepers and I think everyone else should also. The big snake keepers are a part of this hobby to and I do not think its fair to single the burm guys out. We need to stick together and fight for all herps. If they stop the importation of burms then that means no new morphs and no new blood. I just beg everyone to please take 5 minutes and write your own letter opposing s373 without agreeing to ban the importation of burmese pythons

Danny

[Qetu]

ive sent letters to my rep. and local commitee members. im going to fight as hard as i can for this.

[wilomn]

If it wasn't a stepping stone for banning all pythons, I would agree, in fact I do, that we don't need to import burms anymore.

There are more than enough produced here in the states to meet the demand for them.

Don't even get started on wild developed morphs, there aren't any. They're just like the balls, farm produced by guys who keep the oddballs caught in the wild for that very reason.

Besides, if the imports were gone, the price for CBB would go up.

But, if they go, balls are next, then boas, then who knows what, probably corns.

Still, let's be realistic and call a spade a spade. There really is NO need to import burms.

[Hacker79]

Incase you haven't seen this yet here is the new bill they are working on.

This is a letter sent by Representative Kendrick Meek of Florida to his colleagues in the US House of Representatives looking for new sponsors to his recently introduced HR 2811. This is the companion bill to Senator Bill Nelson's S373. Also known as "The Python Ban". Rep Meek is looking to capitalize on all the recent publicity and put his bill in the limelight. As soon as it happens our intelligence gathering folks in Washington, DC help USARK bring it to the Reptile Nation. Stay tuned there is much more coming soon. Prepare yourselves for the big fight!

HELP PREVENT THE IMPORTATION AND TRADE OF DANGEROUS BURMESE PYTHONS
From: The Honorable Kendrick B. Meek
Sent By: ali.dimatteo@mail.house.gov
Bill: H.R. 2811
Date: 7/9/2009
HELP PREVENT THE IMPORTATION AND TRADE OF DANGEROUS BURMESE PYTHONS
Dear Colleague,
This month, a 2 year old girl in Florida was killed by a Burmese Python which was kept as a pet in the girl’s home. Although this particular owner did not have a permit for the snake, many people across the country do and have still been injured or killed by them. Incidents of injury and death from Burmese Pythons have been reported from Florida to Maine to California. These dangerous snakes are lawfully imported from Southeast Asia and are legally sold in the United States.
Burmese Pythons can grow to be up to 20 feet long and weigh over 250 lbs. Not only do they pose a risk when they escape their tanks, but as they begin to reach their adult size many owners turn them loose, posing a danger to children, pets and delicate ecosystems. Burmese Pythons are strong swimmers and highly adaptable, making their home in almost any warm climate. More than 600 of these pythons were removed from the Florida Everglades Park between 2002 and 2007, and these invasive species feed on many of the endangered native species found there, including white ibis, limpkin, round-tailed muskrats, and woodrats.
The import and trade of Burmese Pythons must be stopped. That is why I introduced H.R. 2811, to include these pythons on the list of dangerous animals, banning their importation and sale in the United States.
Please join me in co-sponsoring this important bill to protect children, pets and endangered ecosystems from dangerous Burmese Pythons.
For more information about this issue or to become a sponsor of H.R. 2811, please contact Ali DiMatteo in my office at ali.dimatteo@mail.house.gov or 5-4506.

Sincerely,
KENDRICK B. MEEK
Member of Congress

Here is what you can do to help.

In case you are feeling a little lost here is what you should do:

1. If you don't know your states representatives simply go to google and type in your states name followed by the word representatives.

2. click on what ever link looks promising.

3. For me in California I found the contact info for my two senators, and my congressional district representative. If you have a big state like I do you will have to find your districts representive on there. For me there was a map and I just had to find what representative was in my district.

4. Write a letter to both your senators and your district representative. Please be very polite, and start your letter by stating your position on H.R. 2811. For everyone here I would hope you are very much against H.R. 2811


That pretty much sums it up. Please do not procrastinate on this one guys! If you enjoy your burms speak out now!!

Thanks,
Ben Rogers

First of all I would explain why Burmese Pythons are not that dangerous if kept properly, which is very easy to do. Just like most car accidents there are usually multiple factors that contribute to an event like what just happened to the 2 year old girl in FL. Also, from everything I have ever seen there has NEVER been a case where a burmese or any large snake for that matter has harmed anyone not staying in the house whre the snake(s) were kept. So, if you don't keep them your self you are very safe.

Also, everyone against burmese pythons seems to have the idea that people just let these snakes go once they get big. There is no evidence of that. The wild burmese pythons in florida very well may be from importers that got hit by the hurricanes over the last several years. Since they had the idea that people were just letting these snake go in florida they have had days where owners that kept these snakes could turn them over no questions asked. The couple times I've heard about them doing this resulted in no one turning their pythons over.

Then last, I would touch on how there is no proof that these snakes can live anywhere where it is warm. Infact, most of the other evidence out there would suggest other wise. There are experiments going on right now to show this one way or the other. Most experts on these snakes don't believe they can go much past the everglades or the most southern parts of Texas

[icygirl]

USARK has said that letters from Florida citizens would pack the most punch. Although, since the bill Sen. Nelson is putting forth affects the entire country I wonder if sending letters from out of FL would help.

Now as far as banning Burms versus banning pythons... If you didn't notice, the letter posted above is written VERY craftily!!

The import and trade of Burmese Pythons must be stopped. That is why I introduced H.R. 2811, to include these pythons on the list of dangerous animals, banning their importation and sale in the United States.
Please join me in co-sponsoring this important bill to protect children, pets and endangered ecosystems from dangerous Burmese Pythons.

Most people don't know "Python" from "Burmese Python". Probably, most people think all pythons are dangerous. So banning pythons is an easy step for politicians to take from banning Burmese pythons.

Denial, what do you mean about banning the import only? The bill would ban the import AND trade of the animals, meaning no more selling burms anywhere to anyone in the U.S.

[wolfy-hound]

Also, the guy is saying "outlaw burms" but the language of the bill says "pythons". So if passed as is, it may indeed ban all pythons. It also still addresses owning, transporting and breeding, not just importing.

Make sure of what it says, and try to be clear on why and what you oppose, so the representatives know as well.

[Hacker79]

If it wasn't a stepping stone for banning all pythons, I would agree, in fact I do, that we don't need to import burms anymore.

There are more than enough produced here in the states to meet the demand for them.

Don't even get started on wild developed morphs, there aren't any. They're just like the balls, farm produced by guys who keep the oddballs caught in the wild for that very reason.

Besides, if the imports were gone, the price for CBB would go up.

But, if they go, balls are next, then boas, then who knows what, probably corns.

Still, let's be realistic and call a spade a spade. There really is NO need to import burms.

If the new morphs are farm bred or wild caught does it really matter? We still have to be able to get them into the states don't we??

I would agree there probably are enough burms in here already to meet the demand, and for that reason I would also suspect burms probably aren't imported in that great of numbers anyway. So, I don't see the need to ban importation on them. It would be nice if a little new blood was coming in, and we could get any of the newer morphs that pop up from time to time.

[Denial]

I was talking about the sample letter usark sent to everyone saying they agree to ban the importation of burmese pythons but they do not agree to the ban of captive bred animals. I do agree that most burms do not need to be imported but we do need new blood in our animals. ALot of morphs have come from importing. I do not agree with banning any snake but I also dont agree with completly cutting off the importing of burms either. If there is a new morph I believe they should be able to import them in. If this bill passes the last remaining new morphs for burmese pythons will be the hypo which will be mixed into every color morph we have (which has already been started in albino, granite and green color morphs) And the blondes which we be done the same way after that its over. And if we say ok stop importing burms then next year it will be stop importing retics and then balls and once they stop importing balls then people will flip. I know the burmese python market does not hold the value like the balls do but burm keepers are a part of the hobby to and I think we should al be fighting to keep everything and not singling anyone out.

[MarkS]

Just a quick question. I haven't seen yet if the medical examiner has published the cause of death for the little girl. Have they made a determination yet as to the actual cause of death? Sorry, if I missed it, but I haven't seen anything yet.