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Wildlife Officials Discuss ‘Injurious Species’

Burmese Pythons are an invasive species. Officials say the snakes began taking over the Everglades after they escaped from people who had been keeping them as pets.
Erich Martin
Burmese Pythons are an invasive species. Officials say the snakes began taking over the Everglades after they escaped from people who had been keeping them as pets.
Burmese Pythons are an invasive species. Officials say the snakes began taking over the Everglades after they escaped from people who had been keeping them as pets.
Credit Erich Martin
Burmese Pythons are an invasive species. Officials say the snakes began taking over the Everglades after they escaped from people who had been keeping them as pets.

Florida Wildlife Officials are considering an executive order to keep so called “Injurious wildlife species” from being brought into the state. Paul Grey works with Audubon Florida. He says the order is important since Florida is especially susceptible to the negative impact of invasive species. “As an ecologist who works on these ecosystems, the impact of exotic species in Florida is just staggering—both plants and animals. We are a poster child nationally in Florida for the impacts we’ve had,” Grey says.

The discussion comes after a D.C. circuit court held last April that a previous rule used to address the issue, the federal Lacey Act, does not prohibit transporting wildlife between states. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioners heard from stakeholders during their meeting Wednesday.

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