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Published: June 28, 2010
The specter of giant pythons swarming through the Everglades and the tragic death of a Sumter County toddler in the coils of her family's pet python prompted a law going into effect Thursday that bans the sale of the pythons and other reptiles in Florida.
The new law also bars people from owning the snakes as pets, though residents who already own them can keep them, provided they already have state permits and continue to renew their licenses for $100.
The law applies to five species of snakes and the Nile monitor lizard.
Dealers and breeders can still sell the snakes, but only to customers outside Florida.
The law covers some of the more recent headline-grabbing reptiles: Indian, Burmese, reticulated, African rock and scrub pythons; plus green anacondas and Nile monitor lizards.
The state has issued fewer than 300 permits for people with those reptiles, said Patricia Behnke, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, but there is no way to know how many people have the pythons without a permit, she said.
Last week, the agency put the finishing touches on how it will enforce the new law, though it will probably take a month before the new rules can be implemented, Behnke said.
The game commission's rules allow people with or without a permit to turn over snakes they no longer want or can't handle to licensed keepers at any time rather than on a few amnesty days a year, as has been the case.
But some in the reptile business believe the law will do little to curb wild populations of the snakes and say the number of the exotic reptiles breeding in the wild is highly overblown.
"The number of pythons they claim are loose in the Everglades is inflated," said Anthony Green, who takes snakes people turn in at Westside Aquarium and Pets in Tampa.
Limiting sales to people outside Florida will make little difference in the number of snakes breeders keep, Green said.
"I honestly don't think it's changing anything," he said. "The law is not going to stop them from doing what they've been doing. Breeders breed here because it's tropical."
Joe Fauci, owner of Southeast Reptile Exchange, a wholesale dealer in Tampa, said the new law will squeeze his business.
"Probably in the long run it will be about 30 percent," he said. "And they're doing this when the economy is bad."
Fauci doubts the law will do much good. "It will just create a black market trade."
The law passed after weeks of warnings from the game commission that breeding populations of pythons were well established in the Everglades, news stories about giant snakes and a much-publicized trapping effort, organized by the state.
Vernon Yates, founder of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Seminole, said the ban is based on hype.
"It's exaggerated. It's blown out of proportion. It's all being done off of hype," he said.
The ban also will ripple beyond the breeders and pet shop owners who will no longer be able to sell the snakes in Florida, he said.
The people who breed mice and rats for food will lose business. So will companies that make cages and enclosures, Yates said.
And he doubts the new law will solve anything.
"It will push the python issue underground. It ain't gonna stop me from having one," he said. "It's going to make people have them illegally which means they're not going to be properly caged and not going to be permitted."
Dealers and breeders who have any reptiles on the banned list will have to keep them or sell them out of state. There is no other way to dispose of the snakes, Yates said.
It also means he has no outlet for pythons he captures in the wild or that someone turns over.
"I'll be stuck with them," he said.
The game commission has an online locator map to find people who will take the snakes from owners at https://public.myfwc.com/maps/rocmapping/default.a....
Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731.
KEITH MORELLI http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jul/29/na-little-deer-is-elusive/
Published: July 29, 2010
To the list of exotic animals - pythons, monkeys and lizards - that have escaped from their owners in Florida, add the muntjac, a small Southeast Asian barking deer.
A Seminole man was cited this week for not having the proper caging conditions for the small exotic herbivore that escaped during a thunderstorm Monday.
The muntjac "got out again," Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Gary Morse said on Wednesday, "for the second time."
Morse said the animal was captured the same day it bolted. Scott Daly, the animal's owner, does have the proper state permits for the deer, Morse said.
"He's required to meet the permit conditions," Morse said. "Anything that results in an escape is a violation."
Daly was handed a citation on the escaped animal charge and issued a warning to make the 4-foot fence around his home into a 5-foot fence, Morse said. Daly has 30 days to do that.
The citation is a second-degree misdemeanor, Morse said. Under a change in the law that took place on July 1, if Daly is cited again, he could face enhanced penalties that include jail time and a greater fine, Morse said.
Daly was given a warning in 2009 about the muntjac escaping, Morse said.
The deer escaped to wander the neighborhood in the 8800 block of 108th Lane North, Morse said.
"It's not a dangerous animal," he said. The species ranges in height from 15 to 26 inches tall, he said.
Daly could not be reached for comment.
The deer now is at the Wildlife Rescue and Rehab Center run by Vernon Yates in Pinellas County. Yates said he caught the deer Monday after being called by wildlife officers.
"I found the little deer in the bushes," Yates said this morning. He tried to grab it, but it scooted away. After a couple of more attempts, he called in more than a half-dozen rescue volunteers, and they surrounded the muntjac.
"We surrounded and grabbed the little deer and put the deer in the truck," Yates said, "and the rest is history."
He said he didn't want to shoot the deer, estimated to be 10 years old, with a tranquilizer gun because that could prove fatal.
"It's a small, little deer," Yates said. "It has little antlers, and its top teeth grow down, like a tusk."
He said muntjacs are fairly common among exotic pet owners. There may be as many as 20 privately owned in Pinellas County, he said. They can go for $1,500, but the average price for a muntjac, he said, is about $600.
Daly told Yates that the deer escaped when Daly's wife opened a gate during a thunderstorm and the deer bolted into the street.
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