[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8717]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCING THE STOP NON-NATIVE ANIMALS FROM KILLING ENDANGERED SPECIES 
                                  ACT

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 7, 2012

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the 
Stopping Non-Native Animals from Killing Endangered Species, or SNAKES, 
Act. This bill implements a successful pilot program in which specially 
trained dogs help to detect the Burmese python and other constrictor 
reptiles ravaging the Everglades ecosystem. The bill will fund a 
program to prevent the snakes from establishing sustainable populations 
in new areas as well as to control the snakes that are already out 
there.
  I am a Florida native and travel across the Everglades frequently. 
Until recently, there was rarely a time that I would drive through the 
Everglades and not see animals like wading birds and rabbits along the 
roadside. Since these snakes have spread over the last few years, 
however, I rarely see any animals at all anymore. In fact, recent 
studies have shown the mammal population in the Everglades has declined 
over 90 percent in some cases.
  This drastic reduction in numbers is the result of the Burmese python 
and other constrictor reptiles wreaking havoc throughout the 
Everglades, obliterating endangered and local wildlife, and upsetting 
the delicate balance of the ecosystem. The snakes in Florida are 
contained to a relatively limited area right now, but they will not 
remain that way. Experts anticipate that the snakes may expand beyond 
the Everglades, or escape from pet-owners and breeders in other parts 
of the country to then possibly establish new breeding populations 
there.
  I am sad to say that while there is no proverbial silver bullet to 
completely eradicate the snakes already in the Everglades, we do have 
some tools at our disposal that can stop them from spreading. This bill 
today implements one such technique that has already recently proved 
its success in the field.
  Auburn University EcoDogs, working along with Federal, State, county, 
tribal government entities, universities, and non-profit stakeholders, 
recently trained dogs for a study to assess whether detection dogs were 
an effective tool for python management efforts. As it turned out, dog 
search teams can cover more distance and have a higher accuracy rate in 
particular scenarios than human searchers.
  The team consisted of two dogs, named Jake and Ivy, a dog handler and 
a snake handler. It performed free-ranging python searches on a variety 
of State, Federal, and tribal lands. In controlled searches, dogs 
performed approximately 2.5 times faster than human searchers, in 
addition to having a significantly higher success rate of 92 percent 
during controlled canal searches, when compared to the human search 
team of 62 percent. The SNAKES Act authorizes the Secretary of the 
Interior to work with the stakeholders to establish this detection 
program.
  These specially trained dogs can also respond to specific python 
sightings throughout the year. A rapid response team will take a dog 
directly to the site where a python was recently spotted in order to 
track the snake from there. In addition to organized searches, this 
will help manage and control the spread of pythons and other large 
constrictor snakes.
  I would not be introducing this bill if the dogs were ever in any 
danger, Mr. Speaker. At no point do the dogs approach the snakes. 
Instead, once a dog indicates that a snake is in the area, it is taken 
to a safe distance while a human handler captures the snake.
  Unfortunately, these snakes have already destroyed much the wildlife 
of the Everglades. This program alone will not bring them back. Nor 
will it completely eradicate the snakes that are already breeding, as 
there are simply too many snakes that are too widespread.
  However, these dogs are useful for keeping the snakes where they are 
and stopping them from spreading to other areas. We should, therefore, 
quickly establish a full-time dog detection team so that we have the 
ability to respond with the best tools available in order to prevent 
what happened in the Everglades from happening anywhere else in the 
United States.

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