Hundreds attend reptile show: bad news for reptiles?
August 25th, 2008 by admin
The National Reptile Breeders’ Expo, one of the largest shows of its kind in the country, wrapped-up yesterday in Daytona Beach. An article in today’s Daytona Beach News-Journal featured several revealing quotes from attendees.
- One man who came to the show with his son told the paper, “Snakes are easy. You just get a big plastic tub and they’re happy.” He was looking to purchase a blood python, to add to his collection of 10 pythons back home in Louisiana.
- Snakes are often purchased in hopes of turning a quick profit. Chris Jones, of Gainesville, paid $60 for four ball pythons on Sunday. He said that he planned to sell two of the snakes “right away to get his money back” and then breed the other two.
These two quotes illustrate the careless attitude of some reptile owners (snakes need much more than a plastic tub!) and the greed of others.
By coincidence, Sunday’s St. Petersburg Times included a long article titled, “How pythons went from pets to pests,” about wildlife scientists who are trying to control the spread of Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park. 418 pythons were captured and removed from the park in 2006 and 2007. (Over 100,000 pythons have been imported into the United States for the pet trade since 1990!)
But there is good news. Florida’s U.S. Senator Bill Nelson is considering introducing legislation to ban the import of Burmese pythons into the United States. Such a common-sense move would benefit animal welfare and protect Florida’s fragile environment.
Please contact Senator Nelson and thank him for his work on this important issue (click here to contact Sen. Nelson).