Posted on 05/30/2009 4:15:21 PM PDT by JoeProBono
The population of Burmese pythons in Florida's Everglades may have grown to as many as 150,000 as the non-native snakes make a home and breed in the fragile wetlands, officials said on Thursday. Wildlife biologists say the troublesome invaders -- dumped in the Everglades by pet owners who no longer want them -- have become a pest and pose a significant threat to endangered species like the wood stork and Key Largo woodrat. "They eat things that we care about," said Skip Snow, an Everglades National Park biologist, as he showed a captured, 15-foot (4.6-meter) Burmese python to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was on his first fact-finding mission to the Everglades since the Obama administration took office.
With Snow maintaining a strong grip on its head, the massive snake hissed angrily at Salazar and the other federal officials who gathered around it at a recreation area off Alligator Alley in the vast saw grass prairie. It took two other snake wranglers to control the python's body. "A snake this size could eat a small deer or a bobcat without too much trouble," Snow told Salazar before the secretary boarded an airboat for a tour of the Everglades.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
And those things are moving north into other parts of Florida.
Imagine a few komodo dragons getting started down there....ooooooo(shudders)!
Back in March I camped at the Collier Seminole Florida State Park. It is adjacent to the Everglades NP. A ranger gave a long and good presentation on the park and wildlife.
He didn’t mention Pythons. After it was over, the crowd gone, I asked him about pythons and did he have them. he whispered yes but we don’t talk about them.
Government sponsored bounty. Government issues ammo. End of problem. Guaranteed.
komodo dragon & monitor lizard are the same critters, and the article I read says there’s already 2 groups of them established down there.
You have apparently been to the Everglades. The vegetation is impenetrable. The area is vast
Guns are not a viable solution
My exact first thought. Somebody tell Tony Lama and Luchesse.
You know what, lets try the free market. Unlimited hunting of them. If you are super serious, pay 500 bucks a Python head. If you had to pay out on all 150,000 snakes. It’d only cost 187 million. Thats chump change today for the govt!
Find a snake every other day, and thats not a bad living.
...and then there's
...and my favorite
And yet I was in a Pet Smart in Panama City, FL last week and they are STILL selling pythons, of the 12” to 18” variety which, I guess, for snake lovers is still the “cute and fuzzy puppy” stage. I can not believe the state of Florida has not banned their sale yet with all the problems they have caused here for the past 30 years.
No lie,, Florida govt can’t whine if they are selling new ones still.
Whoops I thought they were different...thanks for the edumakashun! :}
“Now that pythons and monitor lizards are established down there we’ll probably never get rid of them unless southern Florida has extended deep freezes, highly unlikely.”
Create a new hunting season with extended bag limits. I’d imagine a 180 grain .30-06 HP to the head would be a good choice for such game. If that won’t do the trick, I never want to come across one.
Instantly, upon reading the title of the article, I began to hear the Liberty Bell March in my mind’s ear.
There's irony for you- Americans fleeing burdensome taxation by moving under British rule.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.