HSUS BS... and some USGS

[icygirl]

Eradication of an introduced species is rarely successful. That does not mean that an attempt to control the population should not be made.

I agree with you. At least progress could be made in slowing them down and cutting their numbers to some degree. Not sure why they assigned Gordon Rodda to this project, though. He doesn't exactly have the best track record with controlling invasive reptile species.

What I don't like is when people like HSUS come along and putting it all on the pet industry, and start to insinuate that, because Burmese are invading South Florida, they should be banned nationwide. This doesn't address the problem at all, and in fact would probably make it worse as people who owned the animals might be tempted to release them outside, if and when they were made illegal. Plus, I'd argue that an outright, nationwide ban is infringing on American personal freedoms.

The USGS report doesn't seem biased to me, though. I'm learning a good deal from reading through it.

Judging by the top of page 80 on the pdf (numbered 60 on the actual document), it seems like the reptile imports business could use some better regulation and management. It would be nice if, instead of banning Burmese importation outright, Burmese python importers could deliver to a port further up the coast, where winters would be cold enough to wipe out any escapee populations. The numbers of Burmese coming in could also be limited, so that Burm breeders would have the chance to acquire new morphs with a lesser risk of further introduction of the species to the U.S. But, maybe that's a pipe dream, and maybe it's far more feasible (economically and logistically) to just cut out the Burm importers alltogether... Sigh

Well... there's my for you...