Since January 16th, 2012, the entire reptile community has been abuzz with some very devastating news. Our U.S. government, specifically the Department of the Interior, has announced that 4 species of large constricting snakes are now being placed on the Injurious Wildlife list of the Lacey Act; this includes the Burmese python, both the northern & southern species of African Rock python, and the yellow anaconda.
What does this mean for anyone who keeps these species? Well, being listed as Injurious Wildlife, this rule, once enacted, makes it illegal to import any of these snakes into the United States from out of the country. That within itself is not big deal. First of all, any of these animals represented in captivity today are the product of captive breeding; the banning of wild collection is not going to affect the market for these 4 species that much in the long run. However, the really bad thing is that this rule also prohibits any interstate transport of these species. This means no more online sales, effectively crippling the market for everyone in the country who commercially breeds them. This also means if you have even one Burmese python as a pet, and you have to relocate to another state, you are very limited in your options! As far as anyone can tell, while it implies that anyone owning these species currently can still legally keep them within their state, this rule does not make any provisions of how to dispose of them if one can no longer keep them.
- You could find someone else to keep it. Difficult as the market for large snakes is not that great to begin with. This issue is amplified for the breeders who currently have gravid females that can have anywhere from 20-60 babies in the months to come. Thats a lot of mouths to feed. Ordinarily, the breeder would sell the offspring through various expos and websites. This is no longer a legal option.
- The only other legal option is to euthanize the snakes. How does one humanely euthanize a snake? Is there a specific procedure to follow? This rule does not provide one.
Many snake keepers cherish their pet pythons just as many dog owners love their canine wards. For anyone having to relocate across state lines, this rule change is forcing a lot of pet owners into an awkward position. If they are unable to find a suitable home with another hobbyist, they are faced with the decision of killing their pet, or breaking the law by either taking the snake with them or worse, releasing it into the ecosystem.
This brings me to another point. Why did this rule change happen in the first place? Well, let me tell the story
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For years, reptiles had only been available through wild collection and importation. Very few people were breeding anything in captivity. Burmese pythons, like many snakes, werent terribly difficult to breed if you had the space, but like many species, the expense and time it took to condition the animals wasnt worth the effort when you could just import them straight from across seas for cheaper. But that all changed when in the 1980s, the first albino Burmese pythons were found and ultimately ended up in the U.S. One snake enthusiast, Bob Clark, got his hands on them, and suddenly it was worth it to breed the species in captivity because everyone wanted to get their hands on the heterozygous offspring of the albino gene. Still the demand was higher than captive breeding could supply, and many wild baby Burmese pythons were still imported from Asia each year.
Fast-forward to the early 1990s. The reptile industry was really taking off. All over the country, more people were getting into the hobby, whether it was breeding geckos or wholesaling warehouses full of imported reptiles from around the world. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew devastated the state of Florida, and incidentally, a warehouse in southern Florida that housed nearly 1,000 freshly imported young Burmese pythons was destroyed. Unfortunately, many of the snakes found refuge in the surrounding areas, and eventually established themselves in the nearby Everglades National Park. There the descendants of those snakes have been ever since, eking out a meager existence, making themselves another addition to the invasive species problem in southern Florida along with feral cats, green iguanas, tegu lizards, and countless other exotic species of reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects, fish and plants that seem to survive well enough in the sub-tropical climate of Floridas southern tip.
Fast-forward another 20 years or so. Until now, no one has really raised a big fuss about pythons in the Everglades. After all, theres a myriad of other non-native critters around, and I suppose most people assumed that between the top predator of the ecosystem, the American alligator, and our cold winters, the exotic reptiles would be kept in check. But all of that changed when a photo started making its way around the internet. I dont know who took the photo, but here it is below:
