Python Rope A Dope

[ColinWeaver]

.... They will pass a law. We can only hope to mitigate the damage at this point in my opinion. I respect your idealism, but life has beat much of the idealism out of me and I view compromise as better than defeat. I have used the provided script today in my contacts.

Call me a gambling man. What do you think is more likely:
1) A nationwide and massive reaction by the reptile community as a vote goes to the actual floor of the House to ban ALL pythons or;
2) A nationwide and massive reaction by the reptile community as a vote goes to the actual floor of the House to ban BURMESE pythons?

If a bill goes to the floor of the House of Representatives (HR2811) worded to ban all pythons there will be a tidal wave unleashed against the House. I myself will be standing on the steps of Congress, cell phone in hand and a portable fax machine on my hip. And I won't be alone. A monsoon of constituents will rain down on their House delegates in a way that makes the response to HR669 look tiny. You can expect NO such reaction from the reptile community for a bill on the floor banning Burmese pythons by themselves.

Call it realism if you want. I call it quitting. Scapegoating. If the battle cry has changed to, "We have to give them something", then I'm ashamed to be part of the community. There are zero reasons why the Burmese pythons should be made the scapegoat to save the rest of the python genera. If anyone believes they are protecting their ball pythons by allowing them to ban Burmese pythons instead they are in for a very rude awakening.

This is not just about Burmese pythons today. This is about all pythons tomorrow. If you give the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other organizations with political power the satisfaction of this victory I assure you that a direct assault on ball pythons and other constrictors is in the very near future. These organizations are vigilant, persistent and methodical. And it appears that in a very short time they are proving they have the patience to wait us out. By going after the whole python genus they have tricked us into offering what we have been fighting against the whole time.

And I must be a heartless and horrible person because I have grown weary of hearing about the little girl who lost her life to a Burmese python. Tragedy? Absolutely. Earth shattering kaboom? Not by a long shot. I won't bore with the usual rhetoric about how many small children have been killed by dogs in the days since the Florida incident. But really? Seriously? Is that you ammunition? Twelve deaths in 20 years attributed to large constrictors? More people than that have tripped over their own shoe laces and died from the injuries in the past 20 years. Please stop offering large constrictor-related deaths as a reason why we should support a ban. It carries no real weight with the informed.