Actually, cats and dogs and all sorts of animals are hunted down and often killed by the Animal Control Depts. of most communities.
Except that it’s socially acceptable to let cats run wild with no consideration that the common house cat is the most destructive non native pet in the US by far.
People worry about the Burmese python for no good reason. All the conjecture and fear mongering is based on inaccurate and out right false information. Burmese pythons are not aggressive, they’re shy and reclusive animals. They don’t “eat anything they can get in their mouths” nor are they mindless killing machines.
Do Burms make good pets? Yep, IF you are prepared for how big they get. And no, they don’t get 25 feet and 200 pounds. Most rarely top 150 pounds. If you’re not prepared nor have experience around the bigger species of snakes, a Burm probably isn’t for you.
What we’ve seen with bans and restrictive laws regarding these animals is that the hobby has begun to move underground. The animals suffer for it as they cannot be legally cared for by a vet if they get sick or injured. Irresponsible pet owners who let their animals go should be punished severely. But to blame all snake owners and call for bans is no different than what the anti gun freaks do with firearms.
I don’t own any Burmese pythons, however, I have worked with quite a few of them. My personal preference is the longer reticulated python. I have found that retics are more intelligent and more regal. They associate with people in ways most animals cannot do.
All the crap spewed by that article on the Burmese is absolutely fictional. The author did not do his or her research at all. It’s a fear mongering propaganda piece that has no basis in reality.
I work with the “gentle giants” of the snake world every day. I see what they are and how they act and what their needs are every single day. People have little to fear from these animals... on the other hand, these snakes have every right to fear and hate humans... but they don’t.
Let me put it to you this way. If these animals were as dangerous as is being claimed, why are they letting people that have zero experience working with snakes at all go into a wild habitat and hunt them? Maybe because the Burms aren’t what the Government and the media want you to believe they are.
It disgusts me how people throw their opinion around like it’s fact when they’ve never even seen one in person or worked with one or held one... Then have the nerve to tell people like me who work with them every day that we don’t know what we’re talking about.
To top that off, most people couldn’t tell the difference between a Burmese python and most other species of snake in the wild if their life depended on it.
Already, the python hunt has resulted in two very endangered Indigo snakes being killed. Why? Because this whole mess has gotten out of hand with the fear mongering. I hope the people that killed the Indigo snakes are prosecuted. I doubt that it will happen though.