![]() ![]() “If snakes were to reproduce and proliferate, it quickly may be too late to stop them, and as a result, every measure to keep them out of places like Hawaii needs to be taken,” said Schroder. Many snakes feed largely on birds and if non-native species become established there, native Hawaiian species could face devastation. Seventy percent of native Hawaiian birds are endangered and they account for one-third of the birds listed under the Endangered Species Act. Invasive snakes pose a threat not just on the United States mainland, but in Hawaii as well where native species are isolated from repopulation by thousands of miles of ocean. The snakes not only eat grown birds, but eggs as well. Birds account for an average of 25 percent of a python’s diet. Birds from the five-inch-long House Wren to the four-foot-long Great Blue Heron have been found inside of pythons. The American Bird Conservancy is concerned for all native species, but especially for birds, to which the pythons also pose a threat. Photo by Kristen Grace/Florida Museum of Natural History. ![]() This big python was captured in the Everlgades this past summer. They’ve even been known to eat alligators-which surely gives human park visitors cause for real concern. Studies have shown that pythons are responsible for a severe decline in the populations of mid-size mammals, such as raccoons, opossums, and bobcats. Some of the first in the area were bought as pets and then released in the wild where they rapidly multiplied. The Burmese python is estimated to have a Florida population in the tens of thousands. These snakes have already done sizable damage to Florida’s ecosystem. It’s well-established that these snakes are highly adaptable to new environments, and that they consume a wide variety of prey, including mammal, amphibian, lizard, and threatened and endangered bird species.” ![]() 511 –To Prohibit the Importation of Various Injurious Species of Constrictor Snakes) is necessary to prevent the further spread of these aggressive, invasive predators. If the ABC's effort is successful, it would make importing and transporting these snakes over state lines a federal offense.ĭarin Schroder, vice president for conservation advocacy at ABC said, “This bill (H.R. Over the years the Act has been amended several times. It made it illegal to transport across state lines any animals or birds killed in violation of state laws. Implemented in 1900, the Lacey Act is one of the world’s oldest conservation statutes. If ABC is successful, these snakes will be considered “injurious wildlife” and regulated by the Lacey Act. The American Bird Conservancy (ABC), one of the country’s leading conservation organizations, is joining in the fight to ban importation of several species of such snakes: reticulated pythons, green anacondas, boa constrictors, and two other non-native constrictor species. Within the last few years, a similar threat posed by the introduction of non-native giant snakes into the United States has become an increasingly large concern. Within a few decades these snakes completely devastated the island’s bird life-causing the extinction of nine out of the 11 native species.
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