I'm a lax environmental steward. I love nature, animals and plants. I hate pollution, impervious surfaces, poison dirt and cities. But I'm not worried about most invasives.
I personally don't mind the idea of invasive "neat" species - phelsuma, chameleons, dart frogs, etc. Especially in Florida, where the habitat is more or less favorable - if not ideal - for every herp on earth. What WON'T survive there? I think it's cool that there are populations of chameleons in the US.
Nature adapts, changes, and we are like the earth's enzyme - we facilitate and accelerate the natural processes, for good, bad and sometimes catastrophic. Our actions can often supersede natural selection.
I'm really surprised at how unconcerned they are. While many people share my OPINION on the matter regarding invasives, none can deny the facts: it's not legal. It WILL bring unwanted attention. Avoiding Imperial involvement when it comes to this hobby is a good thing. With what was posted, how could the USFWS not get involved?
One important thing to consider about invasives...you can't predict how harmless or harmful they will be. You are introducing something that didn't evolve as part of its new habitat, and it doesn't come alone. It brings in diseases, parasites, alien gut micro fauna and flora, a GI tract full of alien plant seeds, and may end up with an appetite for some rarer native animal or plant. The native species haven't been exposed to all this alien stuff and wham...you end up with a threat that no one could predict. Native species can't always adjust quickly enough to the new situation. There are so many native species with high value being damaged.
A prime example of this is the spread of chytrid fungus in amphibians. The natural host for this fungus was the African clawed frog exported by the millions for human pregnancy testing. Labs routinely dumped the remains of dead frogs down the drain and their fungal hitch hiker spread through water systems all over the planet. Chytrid is known to have wiped out native frogs and salamanders worldwide as they had no resistance to it. How many hundreds of species did we lose because we were careless and clueless?
And, guess what...once the situation becomes serious your tax dollars end up being spent trying to close the barn door after the horse bolted. I don't know the figures, but millions end up being spent to control invasive species in most states.
Sure we can argue that introduced chameleons may not become a pest, but no one can guarantee that! And we can't predict what valuable organism ends up being lost because of them. Wasn't it Aldo Leopold who said "the first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts!"
The attitude that leads someone to bring in a new species just because they like the idea is selfish and arrogant. I'm sure most of you know why the US has starlings and English sparrows? Because some idiot felt that we should have all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's plays. Someone had the bright idea to introduce nutria to create a new marketable fur. Well, no one ended up wanting the fur, so we have nutria damaging rivers, canals, dams, etc. all over the south. Cheat grass blankets the western US because someone wanted a grass that greened up a little earlier in spring for livestock. The danged stuff outcompetes native grasses, has less nutritional value for the same livestock, dies off early, and supports massive wildfire. Purple loosestrife and water hyacinth take over critical waterways and wetlands all because someone wanted pretty flowers in their garden. On and on and on.
Maybe I see it a bit more black and white, but then I've spent my whole professional career fixing, managing, or trying to prevent the problems humans create for their planet.
