Snakes Wreak Havoc In Florida Everglades (via Simon Reames)

Giant snakes appear to be wiping out the mammal population of Florida's Everglades, it is being warned.

The snakes, including huge pythons and constrictors believed to be pets turned loose by their owners, have been eating large numbers of animals such as raccoons, opossums and bobcats.

According to a study, sightings of medium-size mammals have dropped dramatically over the past 11 years - as much as 99% in some cases.

Scientists fear the pythons could be disrupting the food chain and upsetting the Everglades'environmental balance in ways difficult to predict.

"The effects of declining mammal populations on the overall Everglades ecosystem, which extends well beyond the national park boundaries, are likely profound," said research scientist and co-author of the study John Willson.

"The magnitude of these declines underscores the apparent incredible density of pythons in Everglades National Park," said co-author professor Michael Dorcas.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate.

While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.

Burmese pythons can grow to be 26ft (8m) long and weigh more than 200lbs (90kg).

They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it and have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators.

Florida banned private ownership of Burmese pythons in 2010.

A federal ban on the import of Burmese pythons and three other snakes was announced earlier this month.

Watch video at: http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16160354

End the Everglades horror story (Via Herp Digest)

End the Everglades horror story - OUR OPINION: Obama administration should enact anti-commerce rule for pythons - The Miami Herald | EDITORIAL- 12/5/11

Killer pythons in the Everglades are not a joke, a punch line or a great screenplay for a cheesy horror movie. These large constrictor snakes are real and a danger to the ecological and economic vitality of the River of Grass. These invasive snakes are not natural predators helping to maintain an ecological balance in this environment. Rather, these snakes are gobbling deer and alligators whole and putting people in danger.

The fight to eradicate them has become a drain of scarce public funds. And at a time when restoring the deteriorating River of Grass is environmental imperative No. 1 in Florida, the killer snakes are a huge, creepy menace.

So why won't the Obama administration sign a rule that would ban the trade in these creatures?
Such imported snakes have been sold on the Internet, at swap shops or at flea markets to people wholly unqualified to handle them. In South Florida, when these snakes outgrew owners' ability to safely keep them at home, they did the easiest - and most irresponsible - thing possible: Released them into the Everglades. Others sometimes escaped during hurricanes.

A group of Florida's congressional leaders is calling on the president to enact a rule barring commerce in dangerous snakes. In this highly polarized political climate that has stopped law-making in its tracks, the fact that this is a bipartisan group of officials alone should get Mr. Obama's attention. Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on the Democratic side, and Republican Reps. Allen West and David Rivera are among those who are supporting the rule. Here's want the rule would do: It would put nine species of deadly snakes, including boa constrictors, anacondas and pythons, on a list of banned "injurious species" under the Lacey Act.

The proposal to add the snakes to the list has been under scrutiny for a long five years, predating the current administration in Washington. In 2006, the South Florida Water Management District petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, asking that Burmese pythons be classified injurious. Eighteen months later, in 2008, Fish and Wildlife sought public comment on the proposal.

A year and a half after that, the U.S. Geological Survey determined that constrictor snakes were a threat to the stability of natural ecosystems. In 2010, Fish and Wildlife issued a proposed rule to label the nine species of snakes as injurious; and in March of this year, the White House Office of Management and Budget/Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs received the final ruling.

This rule has been thoroughly vetted, scientifically and otherwise. It's time to stop the trafficking in these snakes. Many states, including Florida, are out in front of the federal law, where they have made it illegal to breed, sell or possess these animals. The federal rule would stop movement into the United States and across state lines. For instance, in 2003 Congress banned interstate sale of tigers, lions and other big cats.

Adding the nine species of constrictor snakes to the "injurious" list would go a long way in bolstering Florida's no-possession law, working hand-in-glove to crack down on this deadly scourge. In the fight to save the Everglades, the federal government should not throw good money after bad. It's time for the administration to prohibit trade in snakes that have become a real-life horror story.
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Bill Nelson's effort to ban interstate python trade (Via Herp Digest)

Bill Nelson's effort to ban interstate python trade concerns Fla. wildlife officials
By Christine Stapleton Palm Beach Post- November 26, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH-
The good intentions of Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson to help control the invasion of Burmese pythons in the Everglades has Florida wildlife officials slightly cringing.

Nelson sent a single-page letter to President Obama on Thursday urging him to speed up the process for including the Burmese python and five other pythons roaming around South Florida on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's list of injurious species. That would trigger a ban on the import and interstate trade of the giant constrictors.

"These dangerous snakes have killed people including an innocent child, devoured endangered species and most recently, a Burmese python consumed a 76-pound adult deer," Nelson wrote in the letter. "Further delay is unacceptable and the consequences could be fatal."

While wildlife officials are all for eradicating the wild snakes, they say the unintended consequences of banning the import and interstate trade could lead to even more of the snakes being dumped in the wild by shady dealers stuck with an inventory of worthless snakes.

"We certainly have a concern, in the event they are put on the injurious list, of what would happen to the inventory of the commercial guys," said Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "We have seen cases when animals go on the injurious list and then all of a sudden you find them in the wrong place."

Last year Florida dealers and breeders lost much of their in-state business when it became illegal to acquire the six species of pythons as pets after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission listed them as a conditional species.

Floridians who already owned pet pythons could keep them, but only reptile dealers, researchers and public exhibitors could apply for a permit to import or possess new pythons.

If pythons are further regulated and placed on the federal injurious species list, commercial dealers and breeders will not be able to sell and ship their snakes to buyers in other states, leaving them to figure out how to dispose of their pythons.

While most dealers are "trying to do the right thing," and would not release their snakes in the wild, "it certainly could happen with some of the marginal dealers," Hardin said.

David Barkasy and his wife, Katie Barkasy, are license dealers who have been selling reptiles for more than 20 years. Although the Barkasys do not breed pythons, they said their business ReptilesToGo.com in Myakka City would take at least a 10 percent hit if they cannot buy, sell and ship pythons out of Florida.

"Nationwide this is going to affect a lot of people," Barkasy said. "It's going to have a big impact."

As for dealers' inventory of pythons, if the injurious designation goes into effect, some will let them go in the wild and others will kill them, Barkasy said.

The FWC has no plans for getting rid of the dealers' unwanted snakes. The fate of the pythons "wouldn't be within our purview necessarily," Hardin said.

However, the commission does host non-native pet amnesty days, which allow pet owners to surrender their non-native amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, invertebrates and reptiles at specific locations throughout the state at no charge and with no penalties.

Since the first pythons were spotted in the wild in Florida in the 1980s, captures, hunting and escapes have grabbed headlines around the world. Although the exact number of pythons in the wild is not known, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated between 5,000 and 100,000 in the Everglades.

The South Florida Water Management District petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to include the Burmese python as an injurious wildlife species in June 2006. As the district waited for approval, the number of pythons captured rose dramatically, from 170 in 2006 to 367 in 2009.

The district's petition went to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which held public hearings and developed a draft rule. The draft rule went to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, where it has sat for nearly nine months.

"In total, the rule-making process has taken almost five years and in that time, over 100,000 more giant constrictor snakes have entered the U.S.," Nelson wrote. "And until these animals are listed as injurious, they will continue to flow into the country unabated."

But the injurious listing could also encourage smuggling and illegal sales.

"A well-regulated trade is preferable to a black market," Hardin said. "We hope we can have conservation with flexibility and that it is equitable."

Are efforts to get rid of the snakes working? Hardin believes freezing temperatures earlier this year killed many snakes.

The more aggressive African Rock python is nearly 95 percent eradicated, he said.

"There are fewer pythons than there were three years ago," Hardin said. "I think we really have gotten better about knowing where to look."

Peckish python: 16ft-long snake found with adult deer in its stomach

A 16-foot-long Burmese python was found to have a whole adult deer in its stomach after it was captured and killed in a U.S. national park.

The reptile - one of the biggest ever found in South Florida - had recently swallowed a doe the size of a small child.

Skip Snow, a python specialist who conducted the autopsy at Everglades National Park, said the animal had a girth of 44ins with the 5st 6lb deer inside its stomach.

'This is clearly an extreme event,' he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. 'It shows you they can eat huge things.'

The python - an ambush predator - would have staked out a known deer trail, seized the animal in its sharp teeth, crushed it by coiling around it and then eaten the corpse, he said.


Read on ...     WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Python circulating fatty acids study could benefit diseased human heart (Via Herp Digest)

Python circulating fatty acids study could benefit diseased human heart
Press Relese 10/21/11, Provided by University of Colorado at Boulder

Boulder professor Leslie Leinwand and her team have discovered that huge amounts of fatty acids circulating through the bloodstreams of feeding pythons promote healthy heart growth in the constricting snake, a study with implications for human heart heath. Credit: Photo by Thomas Cooper
A surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study shows that huge amounts of fatty acids circulating in the bloodstreams of feeding pythons promote healthy heart growth, results that may have implications for treating human heart disease.

CU-Boulder Professor Leslie Leinwand and her research team found the amount of triglycerides -- the main constituent of natural fats and oils -- in the blood of Burmese pythons one day after eating increased by more than fifty-fold. Despite the massive amount of fatty acids in the python bloodstream there was no evidence of fat deposition in the heart, and the researchers also saw an increase in the activity of a key enzyme known to protect the heart from damage.

After identifying the chemical make-up of blood plasma in fed pythons, the CU-Boulder researchers injected fasting pythons with either "fed python" blood plasma or a reconstituted fatty acid mixture they developed to mimic such plasma. In both cases, the pythons showed increased heart growth and indicators of cardiac health. The team took the experiments a step further by injecting mice with either fed python plasma or the fatty acid mixture, with the same results.

"We found that a combination of fatty acids can induce beneficial heart growth in living organisms," said CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher Cecilia Riquelme, first author on the Science paper. "Now we are trying to understand the molecular mechanisms behind the process in hopes that the results might lead to new therapies to improve heart disease conditions in humans."

The paper is being published in the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Science. In addition to Leinwand and Riquelme, the authors include CU postdoctoral researcher Brooke Harrison, CU graduate student Jason Magida, CU undergraduate Christopher Wall, Hiberna Corp. researcher Thomas Marr and University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Professor Stephen Secor.

Previous studies have shown that the hearts of Burmese pythons can grow in mass by 40 percent within 24 to 72 hours after a large meal, and that metabolism immediately after swallowing prey can shoot up by forty-fold. As big around as telephone poles, adult Burmese pythons can swallow prey as large as deer, have been known to reach a length of 27 feet and are able to fast for up to a year with few ill effects.

There are good and bad types of heart growth, said Leinwand, who is an expert in genetic heart diseases including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the leading cause of sudden death in young athletes. While cardiac diseases can cause human heart muscle to thicken and decrease the size of heart chambers and heart function because the organ is working harder to pump blood, heart enlargement from exercise is beneficial.

"Well-conditioned athletes like Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and cyclist Lance Armstrong have huge hearts," said Leinwand, a professor in the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department and chief scientific officer of CU's Biofrontiers Institute. "But there are many people who are unable to exercise because of existing heart disease, so it would be nice to develop some kind of a treatment to promote the beneficial growth of heart cells."

Riquelme said once the CU team confirmed that something in the blood plasma of pythons was inducing positive cardiac growth, they began looking for the right "signal" by analyzing proteins, lipids, nucleic acids and peptides present in the fed plasma. The team used a technique known as gas chromatography to analyze both fasted and fed python plasma blood, eventually identifying a highly complex composition of circulating fatty acids with distinct patterns of abundance over the course of the digestive process.

In the mouse experiments led by Harrison, the animals were hooked up to "mini-pumps" that delivered low doses of the fatty acid mixture over a period of a week. Not only did the mouse hearts show significant growth in the major part of the heart that pumps blood, the heart muscle cell size increased, there was no increase in heart fibrosis -- which makes the heart muscle more stiff and can be a sign of disease -- and there were no alterations in the liver or in the skeletal muscles, he said.
"It was remarkable that the fatty acids identified in the plasma-fed pythons could actually stimulate healthy heart growth in mice," said Harrison. The team also tested the fed python plasma and the fatty acid mixture on cultured rat heart cells, with the same positive results, Harrison said.

The CU-led team also identified the activation of signaling pathways in the cells of fed python plasma, which serve as traffic lights of sorts, said Leinwand. "We are trying to understand how to make those signals tell individual heart cells whether they are going down a road that has pathological consequences, like disease, or beneficial consequences, like exercise," she said.

The prey of Burmese pythons can be up to 100 percent of the constricting snake's body mass, said Leinwand, who holds a Marsico Endowed Chair of Excellence at CU-Boulder. "When a python eats, something extraordinary happens. Its metabolism increases by more than forty-fold and the size of its organs increase significantly in mass by building new tissue, which is broken back down during the digestion process."

The three key fatty acids in the fed python plasma turned out to be myristic acid, palmitic acid and palmitoleic acid. The enzyme that showed increased activity in the python hearts during feeding episodes, known as superoxide dismutase, is a well-known "cardio-protective" enzyme in many organisms, including humans, said Leinwand.

The new Science study grew out of a project Leinwand began in 2006 when she was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and awarded a four-year, $1 million undergraduate education grant from the Chevy Chase, Md.-based institute. As part of the award Leinwand initiated the Python Project, an undergraduate laboratory research program designed to focus on the heart biology of constricting snakes like pythons thought to have relevance to human disease.

Undergraduates contributed substantially to the underpinnings of the new python study both by their genetic studies and by caring for the lab pythons, said Leinwand. While scientists know a great deal about the genomes of standard lab animal models like fruit flies, worms and mice, relatively little was known about pythons. "We have had to do a lot of difficult groundwork using molecular genetics tools in order to undertake this research," said Leinwand.

CU-Boulder already had a laboratory snake facility in place, which contributed to the success of the project, she said.

"The fact that the python study involved faculty, postdoctoral researchers, a graduate student and an undergraduate, Christopher Wall, shows the project was a team effort," said Leinwand. "Chris is a good example of how the University of Colorado provides an incredible educational research environment for undergraduates." Wall is now a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego.

Couple guilty in case of strangled girl by Burmese python (Via HerpDigest)

Couple guilty in case of strangled girl by Burmese python
By Millard K. Ives, Staff Writer, Dailycommerical.com 7/16/11
millardives@dailycommercial.com

In what is believed to be the first verdict of its kind in Florida, a Sumter County jury found a couple guilty Thursday in the death of her child, Shaianna Hare, who was strangled by the couple's pet Burmese python.

Jaren Hare, 21, and her former live-in boyfriend, Charles "Jason" Darnell, 34, were tried on third-degree murder, manslaughter and child abuse and face up to 45 years in prison.

They had rejected a plea deal on Monday for 10 years in prison.

Lawyers for the defendants had tagged the snake docile and a family pet, in which children in the couple's Oxford home regularly played with.

Hare's attorney Ismael Solis compared it to a pit bull house pet that "just went crazy" in a terrible accident.

"There was no way in her mind she could have thought she could eat that baby," Darnell said of the snake during a videotaped interview with detectives.

But the six-person jury didn't buy it and took less than two hours to bring back guilty verdicts on all charges -- at which time Hare sobbed as Darnell tried to console her.

"The snake is not at fault in this case. It's a wild animal. The responsibility for the death of that child is those defendants right there," said prosecutor Pete Magrino, pointing at the couple.

In a video-taped interview with detectives, Hare had admitted the snake, named Gypsy, had escaped at least 10 times prior to July 1, 2009, when it was found in Shaianna's crib, wrapped around her lifeless body on a bloody sheet.

It apparently had slithered out of it aquarium.

And the aquarium's lid was a quilt fastened by safety pins. And, sometimes for added measure, Darnell said he kept it in a clothes bag in the aquarium, but admitted it had a small hole in it.

A snake farmer said on his farm, such snakes average 15 to 16 feet long and weigh roughly 140 pounds. The python that killed Shaianna Hare, although it was 8 1/2 feet long, weighed less than 15 pounds.
The prosecution said the snake was malnourished. A medical examiner testified the snake had basically tried to ingest the child.

Darnell apparently had feed the snake in a month, a pet that usually fed on road kill squirrels Darnell found.

According to media sources, the foreperson from this jury did not want to be identified, offered insight how they reached the verdict. "Even under the most remote circumstances, it was possible that the child could be injured. And it was their duty to make sure there was no possibility that a 2-year-old would be bitten or anyway harmed."

It believed this is the first time in Florida that a couple has stood trial in a snake strangulation death of a child. And the case is considered the only known attack in Florida of a nonvenomous constrictor killing a child.

Magrino said in an interview before the trial started he was unaware of any similar trials. But he added it didn't deter him from wanting to try the couple.

"It was a case that needed to be tried," Magrino said.

Judge William Hallman set the sentencing date for Aug. 24.

Invasive species weathered Florida freeze

A Burmese python, courtesy of Mariluna
via Wikimedia Commons.

Published: Feb. 8, 2011 at 12:51 PM

MIAMI, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Officials in Florida say invasive species, hit hard by freezing conditions a year ago, have bounced back, causing headaches for those trying to deal with them.

A killer freeze took a toll on the exotic reptiles, fish and plants in the wilds of South Florida last year, but field studies have shown that while they may have been down, they were not out, and many are on a speedy road to recovery, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

Chief among those is the most infamous of the bunch, the Burmese python.

Wildlife managers say the record cold last January appears to have had little effect, and they are now routinely pulling snakes off canal levees, including a 13 1/2 foot male python in west Miami-Dade county.

"Right now, the numbers aren't all that different," Everglades National Park biologist Skip Snow says. "We're finding them in the same places we've been finding them."

Wildlife officials and biologists have long considered cold weather the best hope for controlling the spread of exotic species.

Everglades biological resources chief David Hallac said he had expected a sharp drop in captured snakes because of the extreme cold, but the total for all of 2010 was only 10 percent below that of 2009.

"That actually shocked me," Hallac said. "We couldn't believe how many snakes were coming in. At a minimum, I was thinking maybe a 50 percent drop."

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/02/08/Invasive-species-weathered-Florida-freeze/UPI-39831297187487

'Dumb and dumber' pet thieves wrestle python

MELBOURNE (AFP) – Two "dumb and dumber" alleged pet thieves wrestled a stolen python in a McDonald's restaurant carpark as astonished customers looked on, Australian police said Thursday.

The men, aged 22 and 24, struggled with the 1.5-metre (five feet) snake, named Boris, which was "not happy" at being removed from its container after being stolen from a Melbourne pet shop.

"In all honesty, it's just a case of dumb and dumber," Detective Sergeant Andrew Beams told public broadcaster ABC.

"Anyone who gets out there with a one-and-a-half metre python in a McDonald's carpark, they're pretty dumb."

Totally Reptiles owner Jodie Graham said Boris, who is safely back at the pet shop, has a "very nice personality" and was upset at not being handled properly.

"He was a bit cold and stressed so I have him in the tank warming up. I am just glad to get him back," she said.

The two men were arrested and charged with offences including burglary and theft.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100909/od_afp/australiacrimeanimalsnakeoffbeat

'Dumb and dumber' pet thieves wrestle python

MELBOURNE (AFP) – Two "dumb and dumber" alleged pet thieves wrestled a stolen python in a McDonald's restaurant carpark as astonished customers looked on, Australian police said Thursday.

The men, aged 22 and 24, struggled with the 1.5-metre (five feet) snake, named Boris, which was "not happy" at being removed from its container after being stolen from a Melbourne pet shop.

"In all honesty, it's just a case of dumb and dumber," Detective Sergeant Andrew Beams told public broadcaster ABC.

"Anyone who gets out there with a one-and-a-half metre python in a McDonald's carpark, they're pretty dumb."

Totally Reptiles owner Jodie Graham said Boris, who is safely back at the pet shop, has a "very nice personality" and was upset at not being handled properly.

"He was a bit cold and stressed so I have him in the tank warming up. I am just glad to get him back," she said.

The two men were arrested and charged with offences including burglary and theft.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100909/od_afp/australiacrimeanimalsnakeoffbeat

A recent paper showing why Burmese pythons won't be invading northern regions anytime soon:

http://www.usark.org/uploads/PythonColdTempfulltext.pdf

(submitted by Chad Arment)

'Monster' Captured In Riverside's Lake Evans

RIVERSIDE -- The Loch Ness Monster has nothing on Riverside County's own 'Monster of Lake Evans.'

For one thing, Riverside County Animal Control Officer Kristina Hillegart can personally testify that, unlike Scotland's 'monster,' Southern California's monster is definitely real. The photos and the actual capture of the 'Monster of Lake Evans' is all the proof that is needed. Hillegart took the call on Friday of a huge snake slithering out of Lake Evans, north of Riverside in Fairmont Park.

What she found was a 15-foot-long, 60 pound Burmese python near the bank of the lake. Animal control officers believe the snake was dumped at the park when it got too big for the owner to take care of. Hillegart was able to wrangle the serpent and get it into her vehicle without too much trouble. Burmese pythons, while very large, are also considered docile and easy to handle.

The 'Monster of Lake Evans' is now in the able care of an animal control employee with a love for things that slither. If no one claims the snake, it will be given to a rescue group that specializes in caring for exotic pets. This is the second time in a year that a big snake has been found in Riverside County.

In August, two animal control officers managed to capture an 11-foot-long, 50 pound Burmese python. That snake was returned to its owner.

Copyright © 2010, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles

Reptile breeders say python ban will hurt business

26 Dec 2009

By GRACE GAGLIANO
The Bradenton Herald

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Florida Sen. Bill Nelson's efforts to make it illegal to import and trade nine dangerous snakes, including Burmese pythons, isn't sitting well with those in the reptile industry.

Nelson introduced the bill to target pythons, later adding species of anacondas and boa constrictors the U.S. Geological Survey considers dangerous. The bill's intent, he has said, is to protect U.S. wildlife and natural resources, as well as to address the concern over pet snakes being released in the Everglades.

But reptile breeders and sellers argue that the bill will severely impact their business.

Myakka City resident David Barkasy predicts it will cause his reptile wholesale business to decline. Barkasy's company, Silver City Serpentarium Inc., is a wholesaler of pythons, boa constrictors and other reptiles to distributors, pet shops and breeders.

Barkasy estimates pythons make up 6 percent of sales at Silver City Serpentarium, and boa constrictors make up 4 percent of his company's sales.

"Seeing that we're down 25 percent for the year because of the recession, you add another 6 to 10 percent and that's a lot of money," said Barkasy, who said he averages about $300,000 in annual sales. "Everything in that stock we wouldn't be able to sell. It would either be euthanized or kept until it died of old age."

Susie Perez Quinn, a legislative aide to Nelson, said the cost to the environment outweighs the impact to the reptile industry.

"If you take the impact on the environment and the impact to taxpayers and the millions that will be spent to restore an ecosystem like the Everglades, you can't compare the two," Perez Quinn said.

The bill cleared a Senate panel Dec. 10, setting it up for a full Senate vote.

Nelson wrote the bill after federal park officials raised concern over pet owners releasing the pythons and other species in the Everglades.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates Burmese pythons, which can grow to 20 feet long and 200 pounds, have a population in the tens of thousands in South Florida.

"As stewards of our country's vast public lands and natural resources, we have to deal with the threats posed by invasive species," Nelson said in a statement.

The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida says the bill will help protect endangered species in South Florida.

"All these snakes that are being released in the Everglades are reproducing in the Everglades and they're catching and killing a lot of the endangered species that do live and belong there," said Don Anthony, spokesman for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.

Anthony said the bill also will prevent the dangerous snakes from ending up with irresponsible pet owners.

In July, a 2-year-old girl in Sumter County was killed in her crib when an 8-foot Burmese python escaped from its glass container and strangled her. Anthony said the python bill could help prevent such incidents in the future.

"What kind of life is it for a huge snake like that to live in a little glass box?" Anthony said.

"These are wild and exotic animals that belong in their natural habitat."

At Bayshore Pets in Bradenton, the pet shop's reptile handler Mike Smith said the bill will impact out-of-state boa constrictor sales.

"It would negatively impact us," Smith said. "I would be upset about that if that snake is included on the ban. It's a popular exotic snake."

The U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers says Bill S373 will "destroy" the reptile industry if it is passed. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., has filed a snake bill similar to Nelson's in the U.S. House, which went through subcommittee hearings Nov. 6.

"It's going to destroy about one-third of the reptile industry, which is about a $3 billion a year industry," said Andrew Wyatt, president of the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers, a North Carolina-based trade group with about 12,000 members nationwide.

"This bill doesn't even address the issue of Burmese pythons in the Everglades. It's not addressing the issues of feral pythons in the Everglades."

Reptile breeder Michael Cole, owner of Ballroom Pythons South in Central Florida, estimates the bill will cost his business $250,000 a year if it passes. In addition, Cole said he fears the bill will cause more people to release the pythons and other snakes.

"If you can't sell the animals you can produce," Cole said, "then you can't do anything with them."

Information from: The Bradenton Herald , http://www.bradenton.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1399007.html

(Submitted by Sally Tully-Figueroa)