Word: floridae
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...have to go to Florida, though, to be reminded that if you're in the housing market right now, the thing you want to be is a buyer. Marked-down properties account for more than 30% of listings in 15 other cities, including Boston, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Honolulu and Tucson, Ariz. Even that may be an understatement of the discounts that are to be had: houses that were taken off the market and then relisted at a lower price weren't included in the analysis. (See how Americans are spending...
...threat to humans, however, is still slight compared with the eco-damage the invasive serpents can wreak. Officials, for example, fear pythons may be on the brink of wiping out what remains of the endangered Key Largo wood rat and that other South Florida animals like the Key Deer could be next. The Everglades are estimated to contain as many as 150,000 pythons now, preying on rare bird and mammal wildlife. "If we don't get on top of this, they're going to eradicate the indigenous species of the Everglades," Rodney Barreto, Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation...
...states, like New York, already ban large constrictor snakes. A House bill, introduced by Florida Representatives Ron Klein and Alcee Hastings, would not ban but more closely regulate python importation. Even that legislation has met resistance from business lobbies like the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC), which insists the problem can be contained, via regulatory programs like Florida's, without clamping down on imports. "Bans often just drive the commerce underground, which can instead worsen the situation," says PIJAC CEO Marshall Meyers. Python sales, which include the smaller and more popular ball python, are still robust...
...easy, however, for disillusioned owners to get rid of them. Because there aren't many python-rescue agencies available, the snakes get dumped in the wild - a practice that's gotten out of control in Florida since 2000. It's a big reason the state laid down regulations last year that make it more difficult and expensive to own reptiles like these in the first place. The reptiles now require $100 annual permits and, if they're wider than 2 in. (5 cm), a microchip embedded in their skin to help owners and the state keep track of their whereabouts...
...Florida officials, including Governor Charlie Crist, propose putting a bounty on the snakes' heads. But hunting elusive and barely visible pythons in the wild is difficult at best - though that hasn't stopped South Florida hunters and hunting clubs from tramping out to state wildlife preserves to whip up enthusiasm for python extermination and then posting trophy photos of themselves with 10- to 15-ft. snakes on the Internet. And any effective bounty program in Florida would require lifting the ban on hunting in the federally managed Everglades, something U.S. officials say they are considering...