Fla. Senate nixes bill that would have tighten rules on non-native reptiles

TALLAHASSEE · Your right to buy a Burmese python remains undiminished in Florida.

A bill to tighten rules on owning and releasing non-native reptiles failed Tuesday when the state Senate didn't put it on the calendar, with just three days left in the 2006 legislative session.

The bill was introduced to counter the growing problem of exotic, or non-native, species that thrive in many parts of the state. Often released by pet owners after they become too big or too annoying, these animals can often out-compete native wildlife, destroying what makes Florida landscapes unique.

The bill would have allowed the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to establish a list of harmful non-native reptiles, with a $100 permit required to own one. Anyone guilty of knowingly releasing one to the wild could have been charged with a third-degree felony.

Likely to have been on the list were the Burmese python, Nile monitor lizard, reticulated python, green anaconda, African rock python, boa constrictor and amethystine python, said Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the wildlife commission.

Backers of the bill said they knew of no organized opposition. Pet dealers were going along. But like many bills, it failed to make it onto the floor in time to make it through all the legislative hoops.

Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Vero Beach, the bill's House sponsor, said he would try again next year.

"It's something we will get some day," he said. "I want to protect our native species, and one way to do that is to stop these invasives. People turn these things loose and they don't think or don't care about what they're doing to the environment."

South Florida is particularly vulnerable because it lacks the cold snaps that tend to wipe out non-native animals elsewhere. Of all the non-native reptiles that slither through the fields and swamps of Florida, the two most harmful are Burmese pythons in the Everglades and Nile monitor lizards in the Cape Coral area, said Hardin, of the wildlife commission.

The pythons have established breeding populations in Everglades National Park, where they feed on birds, small mammals and in one celebrated case, an alligator. While the python that ate the alligator exploded shortly afterward, the park regards pythons as a serious threat and is trying different tactics for eliminating them.

Nile monitor lizards, which can grow up to 6 feet long, pose a threat to wildlife, including the eggs of American alligators. And their only known breeding population lives near the state's largest concentration of burrowing owls.

Despite the failure of the legislation this year, Hardin said the state wildlife commission will proceed with efforts to restrict ownership of certain reptiles.

Link to Story