Mr dpedwards08, firstly, what Americans know about RBBSs you only know because WE researched them and told you. Unlike Cobras that come from much closer to the equator, Blacks are livebearers because they come from a much cooler area. Whereas a Cobra will freeze in cooler climates, a Black will revel in the cold. Just a guess but 2/3 of the US could support Blacks easily. If a pair escaped they could do plenty of damage.
Second, it worries me what types of snakes you want to keep. Colletts, Blacks and Taipans. Are you prepared for the cost of keeping Aussie made antivenoms on site. Do you know that Colletts and Blacks are the same antivenom but Taipans, I think, use Brown or is it Taipan antivenom. Your local hospitals will NOT carry Aussie snake antivenom.
Third, as I said it could work but would have to be strictly and heavily regulated as far as exporting is concerned, very unlikely the gov will change its mind.
Fourth, Blacks around Sydney would number in the hundreds of thousands, 1 or 2 would just assimilate easily.
Fifth, Australia is at the forefront of conservation, it takes time to change attitudes and Aussies are gaining a greater respect for our natives. The attitude " The only good snake is a dead one" is disappearing fast, our farmers are using Pythons in their grain silos to stop rats and mice, freeways have wildlife tunnels etc. We would be 50-100 years ahead of the US in conservation. ALL Aussie reptiles are protected by law. We don't care if a couple of Yank and European hobbyists want to take care of them in cages, we are more interested in stopping them from extinction in the wild.
And lastly.....Do you have any idea just how large Australia is? It is the same size as the US if you take off Alaska with only 60 million or so people. The Royal National Park, Blue Mountains National Park and Wollombi National Park entirely ring Sydney. On its own the Blue Mountains National Park is the size of Belgium. When we declare a National Park, we rope off an area the size of Oklahoma. Our Farmers build a wildlife corridor between paddocks to stop erosion, wind and to allow natives to move freely. Several thousand acres of land have been fenced off to allow the Bilby to come back from extinction. I could write 10 pages of conservation efforts around Australia and would only scratch the surface.
Lets look at USA...Mountain Lions are shot on site, Bears are killed during the hunting seasons, The Good Ole Rattlesnake roundup etc.....Your gun toting society will not be satisfied until it has killed everything that moves. Most Aussies on this thread have talked about conservation and changing attitudes towards our natives whereas you just want to get new bloodlines etc to boost up your pet industry......Who has the better priorities???
