[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 9, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H64]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT PYTHON ELIMINATION PROGRAM

  (Mr. FRANCIS ROONEY of Florida asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FRANCIS ROONEY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss 
an invasive and dangerous species destroying our Everglades ecosystem.
  Geoff Roepstorff, pictured here, is a constituent who is a banker by 
day and a python hunter by night. I hunted with Geoff and killed some 
of these pythons while participating in the South Florida Water 
Management District Python Elimination Program. One of the pythons I 
killed is hanging in my office today. You can come by and see it.
  The elimination program has removed over 820 snakes from south 
Florida, but as of now, they can't hunt inside the Everglades National 
Park because of Interior regulations. These predators eat up small 
animals and disrupt our ecosystem throughout the Everglades and even 
eat panthers, bobcats, and alligators, and they pose a threat to 
humans. The South Florida Water Management District Python Elimination 
Program incentivizes members of the public to assist in hunting and 
eliminating these invasive species.
  I want to especially thank Mike Kirkland and Tia Barnett from South 
Florida Water Management District for their work on this program, and I 
say that now is the time to allow experienced and trained hunters like 
Geoff Roepstorff and others, as part of the elimination program, to be 
allowed to hunt and eliminate pythons in Everglades National Park.

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