My Opinion

[singingtothewheat]

It is a Florida issue, not a national issue but because some greedy little twerps saw dollar signs it has turned into this.

Animal release happens. It is wrong wrong wrong and any person that does it and get's caught ought to do some jail time in my opinion. However, there has been no evidence to show that this is where the problem really developed from. Because there are some very unscrupulous importers out there it's probably more likely that many of the animals started from that point.

One of the biggest problems with this attempt is that it totally ignores the fact that the good owners will do whatever they have to do and the bad ones will still do what ever they want to do, because, THEY DON'T CARE!!!

[crescend]

I understand everything you are saying yes this is a state problem not a federal problem. I agree hunt Capture do what ever must be done. If Florida does not take a stand then we will fail. I will do the best i can to talk to reps of my state.

[Russ Lawson]

Florida has been taking a stand. There have been python hunts going on since early last year, and the ROC permitting system has been around for a few years. Senator Nelson conveniently leaves those subjects out when he goes and talks to the rest of the Senate about the issue, and that USGS report was drafted to make this appear to be a national issue whereas it is only a very localized issue. You've surely noticed that even though it has been debunked by several well-respected scientists, it is still the main document that is currently being used to back this legislation. That is clearly evident after the list was changed from loosely worded species of the Python genera to the list of 9 from that report. The problem isn't that the state of Florida isn't taking action. The problem is crooked lying politicians and others who are either misinformed or lack the capacity to understand tropical species cannot survive outside of tropical or subtropical environments.