Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today that the importation and interstate transportation of Burmese pythons and three other giant constrictor-type snakes will be banned.
These snakes are causing enormous damage to the Everglades ecosystem where they have established breeding populations.
And the main culprits are pet owners who buy these snakes when they are small and then release them into the wild when they become large and unmanageable.
"It does us no good to put in these billions of dollars in investments in the Everglades only to have these giant constrictor snakes come in and undo the good that we are doing," Salazar said. "The action we're taking today is a milestone in the protection of the Everglades."
The other snakes covered in the ban are the yellow anaconda and the northern and southern African pythons.
It sounds pretty good, but it is less than the nine snakes that the Humane Society of the U.S. had called for.
"This important rule has been delayed and weakened by the very industry that peddles high maintenance, dangerous predators to unqualified people at flea markets, swap meets and over the Internet," the Humane Society said in a news release.
Salazar said the other five species remain under consideration but that the four banned on Tuesday represent the most immediate threat.
The Burmese python, for instance, has preyed upon the endangered Key Largo wood rat and other pythons have preyed upon endangered wood storks. They can even eat an alligator. See the video below.
The ban does not mean that people who currently own these snakes will have to give them up.
Most people who own any of these four species will not be affected. Those who own any of these four species of snakes will be allowed to keep them if allowed by state law. However, they cannot take, send, or sell them across state lines. Those who wish to export these species may do so from a designated port within their state after acquiring appropriate permits from the Service.
And it's not just Florida that has a problem with pythons.
On Friday, Riverside County animal-control officials got a report of a "20-foot snake" roaming around Lake Evans. Authorities went out to investigate. They found a 60-pound, 15-foot-long python.
Officials believe the owner of the python dumped the animal at the lake. There had been earlier reports of people noticing a large snake in the area.
Watch Alligator Versus Python on PBS. See more from Nature.