The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering listing two native Florida snakes under the Endangered Species Act.
The Florida short-tailed snake is one to two feet long. It’s light in color and has black blotches with an orange stripe running down its back. It lives mostly in Central Florida in sandy habitats. The Florida pine snake can grow between 4 to 6 feet. It can be found all over the state in long-leaf pine and scrub habitat. Both snakes are non-venomous.
Jaclyn Lopez, the Florida director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the two species are imperiled due to habitat loss, fragmentation and the invasion of exotic, invasive species.
“It has particularly harsh affects to these species that have been exposed to all kinds of different threats working against it: commercial development and logging and mining and grazing and agricultural impacts and woes and other things that can fragment habitat and can have other types of effects on aquatic habitats,” she said.
The center sent a petition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service to review 53 amphibians and reptiles for listing under the endangered species act.The two snakes were included.
The agency plans to conduct a 12-month review to determine if species listing is warranted.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife said the review has not yet been scheduled. It could take seven to ten years before that step is conducted.