US seeks to ban imports of certain snake species

“As stewards of our country’s vast public lands and natural resources we have to deal with the threats posed by invasive species,’’ Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat and the measure’s sponsor, said in a statement.

The bill, passed by voice vote yesterday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, now heads to the full Senate.

It would ban from import and interstate commerce nine specific species of snakes, classifying them as injurious species. The list includes the Burmese python, northern and southern African python, boa constrictor, and yellow anaconda.

The Obama administration supports the legislation and is trying to deal with Burmese pythons that are threatening endangered species and harming the ecosystem in the Everglades, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote in a letter to Nelson on Dec. 7.

The Burmese pythons, which have escaped from pet shops or private owners, are reproducing by the thousands in southern Florida, making it a high risk to destabilize the local ecosystems, the US Geological Survey said on Oct. 13.

The pythons’ ability to produce large numbers of offspring, travel long distances, and eat a variety of prey makes them especially dangerous, the government agency said.

Representatives for reptile owners and retailers say the measure would destroy a $3 billion trade in the snakes.

Feral cats, hogs, and ants pose more of a danger to the environment than snakes, said Andrew Wyatt, president of the United States Association of Reptile Keepers, a Grandy, N.C.-based group with 12,000 members.

“None of this will change anything on the ground in the Everglades,’’ Wyatt said in an interview.

The snakes, many of which are exported from the United States after being raised in captivity, have become “an agricultural product,’’ he said.