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Posted by Paul (65.12.207.57) on 02:39:16 12/21/06
In Reply to: ignorance and power posted by Daniel Gorfain
I talked with a man once that was waxing eloquently about the need to eradicate all non-native vegetation. As he became more impressed with his arguements his logic thinned and eventually to slow things down a bit I asked him: "Just what is a non-native." Well, he says, it is anything that wasn't here when the semonoles owned the land.
So, I say to him, that means you and I have to go?
The python issue I see as a matter of an introduced species. From the deep ecology standpoint all creation has a right by virtue of its existence to remain. But it is man that alters the existence by place, number, etc. Therein lies the true problem. Since we can't seem to control that we choose the next best thing, control the snake. And that I agree with because it is against the balance of what was here (history) what should be here ( a judgement). But this removal program should not, as you argue, be done by making a villian of the snake. It is just a creature out of place by a human act. Salvaging them for responsible owners is a solution. Not necessarily THE solution but a solution. Killing them is likewise a solution but not THE solution.
Perhaps we could make a license and a bond part of buying or owning one of this serpents. An annual inspection either shows the creature (alive or dead) or the bond is foreclsoed on. This could be similar to the legitimate holders of machine guns in private collections. We can ask to see the firearm whenever. If you can't show it, and produce an explanation if it isn't around then you lose your license and the rest of the collection.
If rare gun collectors can act in a responsible way perhaps snake collectors could too with a little nudging from the government side.
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