Posted on 01/16/2016 9:49:57 AM PST by george76
Burmese python invasive to Everglades. The Burmese python, one of the largest snakes in the world, is running amok in Florida.
Well, more like slithering amok.
So much so that on Saturday, state officials kick off a month-long competition designed to remove as many of the colossal constrictors from the Everglades as possible.
More than 600 people have signed up for the Python Challenge, according to Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which organized the event.
A cash prize goes to the hunter who captures -- dead or alive -- the most Burmese pythons, as well as one for the longest one.
Why? Because the Burmese python, which can be as large as 23 feet long and weigh up to 200 pounds, doesn't belong in the Everglades, in Florida -- or even in this hemisphere for that matter.
...
Even though it seems like such a large snake would be easy to find or see, only a very small fraction of pythons present in the park are ever detected
...
Just how hard are they to find? In the inaugural Python Challenge in 2013, 1,600 hunters could only produce 68 of them. In fact, the Burmese python is so hard to detect, Segelson said there are no reliable estimates as to how many of them there actually are in Florida -- but they've been a long-simmering problem for the state.
...
the invasive species is responsible for causing the near "complete disappearance of raccoons, rabbits and opossums
(Excerpt) Read more at wyff4.com ...
put a bounty on them and I’ll bet they would find a lot more..dad was born a country boy in 1901. Just about anything could get a bounty on it..he said there was a 1 cent on crows, but a shot gun shell cost 1 penny...so he soaked grains in whiskey for several days and put it out...with 1 shot gun shell he could make a profit a lot of the birds were too drunk to fly could get 10 per shoot.
You had me until you said:
And anyone who wants one for a pet should have to pay a very hefty annual license fee to go to a fund to pay for the bounties on released or escaped pythons.
Let me paraphrase your statement:
And anyone who wants to own a gun/car/dog should have to pay a very hefty annual license fee to go to a fund to pay for the healthcare for those whours areally injured by the’s hideous things.
Full disclosure, I own 5 snakes, one of which is a Yellow Anaconda. I would willingly take a snake bite ANY day over a dogbite.
Another big intrusive Govt loon.
We have a huge problem with invasives in the everglades. Too many third worlders releasing everything from dogs and cats to snakes and fish that don’t belong here. They think nothing of it. Its not their country. Now we have a disaster since the Park Service can’t mange anything. Sooner or sooner it becomes a problem for those who actually know who to get a job done.We are there already.
I give up what is a yote?
I personally think once the cat is out of the bag, it is out of the bag and something like this isn’t going to fix it.
I have been visiting Everglades Park on fishing trips for the last 20 years. We used to stay at the now hurricane demolished hotel, and now I drag an RV down there. It is true the raccoons which used to really be pests are gone. In fact I was surprised to see one swimming between the islands at the western side of whitewater bay in December. I have only ever seen one snake and at the time I didn’t recognize it as a python so I left it alone. I met the winner of the last hunt and his opinion is that you need to know where to look for them as they are mostly up under the banks of the islands. What most of the old timers attribute the decline of game to is the fact that the Indians and original settlers used to use fires in the rainy season to flush game out, and the fire cleared land subsequently allowed for a lot of rich habitat. The one thing I know is the park management is clueless and their only real agenda seems to be to keep the sportsman out.
I get this all the time from snake lovers. “They really aren’t as dangerous as (fill in the blank with dogs, lions, piranhas, etc.)
The question isn’t just lethality. Invasive non-native species can harm native wildlife—and some are dangerous to humans as well.
The problem is irresponsible owners who fail to keep them in captivity and away from the environment. We need to have hefty licensing fees to prevent irresponsible casual owners from taking on the responsibility of maintaining them in secure locations. Biologists claim that most of the large species are released into the wild because owners realize they grow to size very rapidly and no longer feel they can maintain their pets.
You know, of course, that your yellow anaconda is one of the animals that was banned in the U.S. If it were a native species, you’d have a better argument.
A Yote is a name given Coyotes by hunters and rural dwellers. They are not native east of the Mississippi river. Back in the 1970's the river hit an all time low and they crossed it. When you introduce non native things into environments where they have no natural enemy or the natural native whatever has no means of defense catastrophic events can occur. Back in 1900 there were tree's standing in the eastern US that were comparable to the Redwoods of the Pacific northwest in size. An imported tree of similar name was brought in from China and contained a blight which destroyed them. The Eastern American Chestnut is gone. The ones you buy in the store are Chinese Chestnuts. Other things were brought in like the wretched nuisance Kudzu which takes over once it gets established.
The Pythons need to be dealt with ASAP and fully eliminated from the wilds of the U.S. The owners who either accidentally or willing release them to the wild should be legally fiscally responsible for all cost of capture and loss of others property they may consume. If a person wants to keep exotic animals they and they alone should be solely responsible for their containment. Laws should be stiff for violations of this. Note that exotic animals includes things like lions and tigers as well.
I do not have Burms, no, but know many who do and even more Retic owners.
Responsible people, all of them.
My heart belongs to Boas, although I do have a few Ball Pythons and one Snow Corn Snake.
FWIW, my life has been spent around “scary beasts” like Dobermanns and large constrictors but it was one, barely bigger than a pony horse, who nearly killed me, just 10 years after Shetland pony out me in the hospital.
I grew up on a farm and know full well how dangerous livestock can be, from milk cows ‘accidentally’ goring you when they swing their heads to flick away a fly, to trampling you or crushing you against a barn wall to vicious sows and flighty horses.
Horses, cattle and pigs can indeed be “predatory”, if you want to describe it that way, and attack on purpose.
Not sure why pit bulls entered the conversation and I don’t know anyone who owns snakes as a “symbol” of anything, so I cannot address that aspect.
Any animal is potentially ‘dangerous’.
Only a fool ever forgets that a critter is a critter.
Your post is worthless without pics.
:)
/Boaphile
Yellow Anacondas and all of the other animals listed on the craptastic Lacey Act are -not- banned from ownership.
They are banned from import, interstate transport and sales.
I know a lot of Anaconda owners, along with Retic owners, Burm owners and so on.
You can own and breed the so-called “banned” animals.
You simply cannot sell or move them out of state.
Cats are not a native species.
You’re right about the details of the ban which is about all the Feds could do, considering their jurisdiction.
I’m not sure why you are so adamant about the right of snake owners to avoid any laws or programs that constrain owners from allowing these animals to escape into the wild. And I know some snake lovers would cheerfully keep venomous snakes like mambas, horned vipers, and fer de lance as part of their hobby.
Another good measure would be to require an digital license/id to be inserted into these animals so their owners could be identified if they are found in the wild. Breeders would be required by law to implement this id as a condition of sale. Then, both the breeder and the owner could be held liable if a registered animal got loose.
By the way, society has already put programs in place to pick up, detain, offer for adoption, and eventually put down the cats and dogs you are so worried about. And those animals don’t grow to 20-30 feet in length with a capability to crush and suffocate large animals and humans or to quickly kill with their venom.
I UNDERSTAND the problem. But, just as with any other subject, it is useless and wrong to punish those who behave responsibly for the actions of those who behave irresponsibly.
Think guns as an analogy.
The problem is irresponsible gun owners, so we should register and regulate and tax until there are no more irresponsible people.
Good luck with that. By the way, you speak as a Marxist would.
They should be microchipped, too.
Where did I say I was adamantly against responsible ownership?
I never mentioned dogs, just cats.
I already know people who keep a wide variety of “ hots”.
You can thank them for life saving antivenin and all the miracle drugs derived from snake venom, some of which you may already be using, unaware.
Some people only want the freedom to own/do the things that *they* do not fear or hate.
Funny how we see tyranny in others, but not ourselves.
I must have missed the part of the Constitution where it says you have an inalienable right to import and keep dangerous animals (mambas, boas, pythons, tigers, etc.) as pets because you have a very unusual social pathology/obsession compared to the vast majority of the population.
Surely you would agree that there is a need for some laws providing for the health and safety of citizens. Just because you happen to like snakes—and possibly make a profit out of their sale—doesn’t mean that society at large has to give you unfettered license to enjoy your hobby. Child molesters would like that freedom of action too, but we have laws to prevent them from exercising their dangerous perversions without limits.
Throwing around names ad hominem instead of answering the arguments I put forth for sensible regulation is a tactic that Saul Alinski taught.
If nothing else, we can agree on that. Especially if the critter is a reptile.
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