Another day, another “monster” python
September 12th, 2009 by admin
On ARFF’s website, we maintain a list of escapes, attacks and other troubling incidents involving pythons, tigers, monkeys and other exotic “pets” in Florida. Lately, it’s been a challenge to keep up with the news.
Friday afternoon, state wildlife officers removed an 18-foot-long, 400-pound Burmese python from a home in Apopka due to concerns that the chain-link cage she was in was not secure enough to contain her. “She got out just last week,” a neighbor told the Orlando Sentinel. Lt. Rick Brown with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said she was the largest snake he had ever seen, “To me it’s a Goliath. It’s a monster of a snake.”
On Thursday, FWC officers were in Lakeland where they seized a 17-foot-long Burmese python. The snake’s owner was cited for failure to have the required state permits to possess the animal.
Burmese pythons can get even bigger- a few years ago, a pet python in Immokalee, Florida was measured at 22 feet, 1/4 inch- but these powerful animals don’t have to be “monsters” to be dangerous. In July, a Burmese python who was a mere 8 feet in length escaped from a glass aquarium inside a home in Sumter County and strangled a 2-year-old girl while she slept.
On Wednesday, a representative from the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida attended an FWC meeting in Howey-in-the-Hills and spoke in support of strengthening regulations concerning pythons and other potentially-dangerous captive wildlife. In particular, ARFF asked commissioners to support a proposal by State Senator Eleanor Sobel to ban the import, breeding and sale of several species of large pythons, anaconda and monitor lizards.
We’re hoping that 2009 will be the year that the State of Florida finally gets serious about the dangers of Burmese pythons and other exotic pets- to protect public safety, animals and Florida’s environment.
You Can Help
Please contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and urge them to support Senator Sobel’s proposed ban on the commercial trade in Burmese pythons and other large reptiles.Contact:
Rodney Barreto, Chairman
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
E-mail: Commissioners@MyFWC.com