My name is Jennifer, I am a snake breeder and so are many of my friends. The Environmental protection Agency is controlling the animals that we keep and they are threatening our small businesses through the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act was amended in March 2012 to ban the import and interstate travel of 4 constrictor species due to their threat on the Florida Everglades. These species are the Burmese python, the yellow anaconda, the Northern and Southern African pythons.
The main reason that the EPA bans these species is the presence of the Burmese Python in the Florida Everglades. The EPA says that their as many as 10,000 snakes loose and breeding in the Everglades. However, after a month of culling, only 68 snakes were found. The government says these animals are killing the native species and the pythons are the top predators. The EPA fails to see the destruction of over half of the habitat of the Everglades by residential and sugar cane development. Native animals are losing their habitat to people and not getting eaten by snakes. Instead the EPA looked for a scapegoat and found it in the Burmese python. All of these snakes cannot survive in the Everglades because it gets too cold in the winter to support them.
This ban affects breeders and snake hobbyists alike because the EPA is making decisions on animals based on little information. This ban prevents us from selling these animals in different states and prevents pet owners taking their animals if they move out of state.
Please don’t let our profession and your pets be influenced by the EPA!
Please sign my petition to end the needless ban on Burmese pythons.