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Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto’s call for immediate action to restrict nonnative species was stunning to pet businesses, pet keepers, small businesses, and farmers who have been working with FWC staff on a Technical Assistance Group (TAG) to address nonnative species issues within Florida.
The pet industry is heavily regulated within Florida and has been for many decades. Florida has some of the most stringent permitting requirements of any state. Businesses that breed, import, or sell reptiles have to apply for import permits, submit inventories, and maintain receipts documenting sources of all animals, down to the smallest, most inoffensive lizard and tortoise. Strict caging requirements and animal welfare standards are enforced. Burmese pythons have been off limits to pet keepers for over a decade.
Chairman Barreto’s assertion that we have “open borders” on nonnative species displays not only his ignorance of his own agency’s rules, but also prejudice and political opportunism.
