Florida wildlife watching brings in $3 billion a year

Tampa Bay Online reports that more people travel to Florida to watch wildlife than any other state.  The visitors bring in more than $3 billion to the state and support 19,000 retail jobs.  Furthermore, one in six Floridians participate in some form of wildlife watching. 

Humane Scorecard 2009

The Humane Society Legislative Fund has released its 2009 Humane Scorecard.  The Scorecard ranks members of Congress on their support or votes on important animal legislation.  Only Senator Nelson was ranked given the changeover between Senator Martinez and Senator Lemieux.  Nelson ranked a disappointing 33%.  On house side, Representative Wasserman-Schultz was the only house member to rank a perfect 100%, although representative Klein and former representative Wexler came in at 92% with no anti-animal positions.  Representative Miller ranked the lowest with a 0% and 8 anti-animal positions.

The HSLF blog posted some additional facts about the scorecard here and encourages people to communicate with their legislators about the scores.

2nd Annual Florida Week for the Animals Febraury 6-14, 2010

The second annual Florida Week for the Animals is slated for February 6 - 14, 2010 and there are a number of events scheduled around the state.  Check out the calendar of events here.

Banning the importation of pythons

The Sun Sentinel has an opinion article on the need to ban importation of the Burmese python.  Water management workers in South Florida captured 25 this month alone.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing rules that would ban the importation of the Burmese python along with 8 other large snakes that endanger the Everglades.  From the article:

The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council opposes the proposed ban, claiming dealers and pet owners can regulate themselves. If that were true, you wouldn't have an estimated 100,000 snakes in the wild, nor would there be any need for the highly publicized hunts that make for photo ops but don't really solve the problem.

These snakes should never be allowed into the country in the first place. The only acceptable place to see one of these huge snakes is the zoo.

Read more about the proposed ban here from the Irrawaddy, covering Burma and South East Asia.

Ending Rattlesnake Roundups

The Tallahassee Democrat reports on the need to end rattlesnake roundups.  The "roundups" are annual rituals that involves pumping gas fumes into gopher tortoise burrows and collecting the eastern diamond back rattlesnakes that flee the fumes.  The article notes that the roundups are both unnecessary and inhumane.  In addition to harming and killing the snakes that are collected, the gas makes the burrows uninhabitable for years and adversely impacts threatened species such as gopher tortoises and indigo snakes.  Gassing the snakes is also illegal, according to a Georgia official quoted in the article.  At one point, there were twenty-three roundups, but only three still exist.  One of the former roundups in San Antonio, Florida, has changed to a festival supporting education and appreciation for the snakes.  Two of the three remaining roundups are in Whigham and Claxton, Georgia.  The article ends with the request that people stop attending:

The Whigham roundup will be held Saturday. The Claxton roundup is planned for March 13 and 14. If we don't attend, organizers will get the message that it's time to support another type of event that encourages conservation and preservation, rather than the wholesale slaughter of wildlife and the destruction of their habitats.

For more details, read "Effects of Rattlesnake Roundups on the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake," Feb. 2009, by D. Bruce Means, at http://www.herpconbio.org/Volume_4/Issue_2/Means_2009.pdf.

Picture Source. 

Thanks for visiting!

Despite the absence of any new posts for the last month, sitemeter reports that there are still 100+ visits per day and there were more than 6000 page views last month.  The counter has also gone over 200,000 visits since we started.   One of the new year's resolutions I intend to keep is updating the blog with the many developments in animal law.  Stay tuned....

Technology Aims to Replace Animal Testing

U.S News and World Report has an interesting article about a new test designed to replace tests tests on mice and guinea pigs used to predict skin reactions from drugs and cosmetics.  The new test from the Hurel company uses human skin cells to simulate the body's allergic response to foreign chemicals.  According to the article the technology could eliminate the need for tens of thousands of test animals each year and could shave $100 million off the roughly $1 billion cost of developing a new drug.

Take FWC's survey on captive wildlife rules

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is extending the deadline for the public to respond to its rule development survey on changes to the rules on captive wildlife, according to a press release at the agency's website.  FWC is considering new requirements for the various classes of captive wildlife (Class I, II, and III) and licensing requirements for people selling or exhibiting Class III wildlife.  Class I wildlife include gorillas, chimpanzees, lions, leopards, tigers and bears. Class II wildlife include several species of small monkeys, small cats, coyotes and wolves. Class I and II wildlife are potentially dangerous to people.  A link to the survey is available here.  The deadline has been extended to December 7, 2009, apparently because of a "limited response from the public."  I'd encourage anyone concerned with captive wildlife to take the survey.

Pirahna found in Palm Beach pond

Wildlife officials applied poison to a Palm Springs pond after pirahna were discovered, according to the Sun-Sentinel.  Officials suspect that the pirahna were pets that someone released into the pond.  The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued a press release stressing that pirahna are completely prohibited in the state and no one is allowed to legally possess the species in the state.  From the press release:

"People may move here from another state with their pet piranha only to find out their possession is illegal in Florida. Other times, someone might have purchased one illegally. For whatever reason - maybe they're moving or just don't want them anymore," [Paul Shafland, exotic fish biologist with the FWC] said. "Then they think the best thing to do is to release them in a nearby pond, but they couldn't be more wrong. In fact, that's the very worst thing they could do. Piranha in a freshwater pond could feed on native freshwater species, such as bream and largemouth bass."

Possession of piranha in Florida is punishable by a maximum $1,000 fine and a year in jail. Releasing any prohibited species, such as piranha, into the wild in Florida is a first-degree misdemeanor, also punishable by a $1,000 fine and a year in jail. In fact, releasing any nonnative species into the wild is a crime.

Anyone who has a piranha or knows someone who does should call the local FWC regional office and turn it in, without fear of repercussions. Otherwise the piranha owner runs the risk of being caught and punished.

. . .

If you suspect a wildlife law violation, report it to the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404 FWCC (3922). If your information results in an arrest, you may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. To learn more about the FWC's Wildlife Alert program or to report a violation online, visit MyFWC.com/Violation.  

 Picture source here.

Brevard County decision on Animal Services Director Delayed

Florida Today reports that Brevard County has delayed its selection of a new director for the animal services and enforcement department after questions were raised about one of the finalists.  Brevard has been without a permanent director since February of this year.