I was born and raised in Miami. Left in 1984 prior to the python infestation. But I saw plenty of other ‘exotics’ . Had a Melaleuca (aka Paper)tree in my yard. Bufo toads (S. America) in the yard. Iguanas and Cuban lizards, parrots in the neighborhood.
Expecting an infestations of piranhas. There is already a similar fish that looks just like them, sans teeth in pet shops.
A lot of these infestations are loose pets.
And Lion Fish? Their origin is not in question IMO.
I’ll only add the remote possibility of the Panama Canal.
From Wiki.
.............. Miami, in particular, is the hub for trade in exotic pets within the United States. Although the exact origin of Burmese pythons in the Everglades is unknown, it is likely that many were once pets released by owners who found them too difficult to care for.[7]
An evaluation of the genetic structure of Burmese pythons sampled from Everglades National Park determined that the population is genetically distinct from pythons sampled in the native range, but within the Everglades population, there is little genetic diversity.
This finding either indicates that the python population is freely interbreeding or corroborates the hypothesis that the individuals originate from a specific source population such as the pet trade
.[8.............Authors..
Collins, Timothy M., Barbie Freeman, and Skip Snow. “Final Report: Genetic Characterization of Populations of the Nonindigenous Burmese Python in Everglades National Park.” Final Report for the South Florida Water Management District. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, 2008.
That wiki article is misleading. All the snakes found in the Everglades do have a like genetic background, they all come from the exact same source. The DNA matches the blood draws from the importer that lost their breeding and housing facility in Andrew. To date, no differing genetic mapping of Burms has been found in the Everglades.
This puts the theory of abandoned pets in question. I don’t doubt that there are some abandoned pets there, but making the claim that the infestation of Burmese pythons is directly due to that is false.
I can’t speak of other species of animals as I have not researched the subject matter on them. But as for the snakes... The infestation isn’t due to irresponsible owners releasing their pets.
I will be traveling to the Everglades to help document a lot of information on these snakes in a couple of months.