Florida may require permit for large reptiles

State may require permit for large reptiles

By VIRGINIA SMITH
Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- You can't keep them from eating alligators in the Everglades. You can't bust people for letting them loose -- unless you happen to catch them in the act.

But you can, at least, make people think twice before buying a Burmese python -- or a Nile monitor or any of a handful of large, nonnative reptiles that have formed wild colonies from Flamingo to DeLand.

That's the rationale behind a new state bill that would require a $100 annual permit to keep certain large reptile species, and provide for "pet amnesty days" where 16-foot pythons and the like can be turned in, no questions asked.
While the exact list of species has yet to be figured out, and the state's plan for the unwanted animals is fuzzy at best, the bill "is a great start," said Florida Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Vero Beach, who is co-sponsoring the legislation along with Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge.

It would put large reptiles in the same tightly controlled category as venomous snakes -- which Florida residents also need a $100 permit to keep.

"Before, you could just buy little Johnny one, no big deal," Poppell said. Now little Johnny could be forking over $2,500 during the course of the snake's life, and have to answer to the state if it ever gets loose.

Biologists don't expect the bill, if it passes, will make Burmese pythons vanish from the Everglades, or even slow their progress beyond South Florida.

"There's thousands of them out there," said Kevin Enge, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "Burmese pythons could potentially survive up to Orlando or on the coast even further north."

And strangely, the recent abundance of pythons seems to have only encouraged more python-dumping. "The park biologists are finding clean ones lately, without scratches or marks," Enge said, indicating they've been raised in captivity.

The bill would, its supporters hope, slow the tide of unwanted reptile pets and reduce impulse purchases, since buyers would need a permit in hand first.

And it would give unhappy owners a way to dispose of their erstwhile captives. The state's first "pet amnesty" event is being planned for Orlando. What will happen to the dropped-off creatures, however, is unclear.

"That's something we'll have to work out," Enge said. "A lot of these animals I don't think there's a real market for. Realistically, they are probably gonna be euthanized. How we're gonna explain that to the public I don't know."

Dave Soltz, manager of Mr. Petman in South Daytona, said he felt the $100 permit requirement would dissuade retail buyers of large reptiles. Soltz said he tries to be as clear as possible about the growth and requirements of pets like Burmese pythons, but it doesn't always take.

"We give them as much information as they're willing to listen to," he said.
Commercial reptile breeders, of which Florida has dozens, have lent support to the permitting measure -- because the alternative could be to shut down the trade in all exotics.

"That would be the next step," Poppell said. "But we really don't want to put people out of business."

Enge thinks dealers may have been responsible for the first releases of Nile monitors and Burmese pythons, because it takes quantities of animals to establish a breeding colony.

Eugene Bessette, an Alachua County snake breeder who supports the restrictions and helped the state craft them, said he thought individual pet owners were to blame for most of the releases.

"People throw away cats; they throw away dogs; they throw away children," Bessette said. "We live in a disposable society."

Whatever the cause, the fact is that colonies of spiny-tailed iguanas, Nile monitors, Burmese pythons, African rock pythons and boa constrictors are established in pockets of Florida, and have been for years.

Eradication efforts are likely to intensify soon, Enge said. "They're gearing up for the Burmese pythons. There will probably be federal money to try and eradicate them."
It's not merely because 16-foot snakes freak people out, said Enge, but because their prey items could include threatened and endangered species.

"So far what we've found in their stomachs are limpkins, house wrens, one had a feral cat," Enge said. "We worry that they could get into wood stork colonies."

The bill, if it passes, may serve to keep the next big, unwelcome, predatory species out of the state.

Anacondas are being considered for the list. At least two have been discovered in the Everglades, probably released by their owners and not reproducing.

No one expects that the giant South American snakes would survive and breed here, but then, no one expected Burmese pythons to, either.

"Ten years ago, I'd have said Burmese pythons could never become established in Florida," Enge said.