FMCDH(BITS)
“Offer a $100 a snake and I bet lots of hunters and like will get the job done. “
I think there is a ban on selling python leather or skins. Yes a bounty, and let people sell python skin, there will be a strong incentive to load up with #4 and hit the swamp.
take a class and capture the snake
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/03/us-usa-florida-pythons-idUSKBN0L715920150203
It should be no-license, no-limit, no season, kill on sight, bring the carcass in & collect your bounty.
They need to be eradicated, not “managed” like FWC says in the article.
Export hickory-smoked snake in roasted jalapeño sauce and make boots of the skin.
There’s another ‘invader’ causing havoc in S. Fla and the rest of the Caribbean.
The Lionfish.
Undoubtedly turned loose by marine aquarium fanciers. They are a Pacific fish, no known enemies, voracious appetites. Poison spines prevent predators.
They are eating all the small fish in an area.
Just another foreign species to add to the list.
Parrots, iguanas, Cuban lizard, bufo toads, water hyacinths, Melaleuca trees(think they’ve about killed them off) .
And insects...
I’ll bet the birds are the biggest losers of all.
You ever seen the Everglades?
There have been bounties offered for the Burms... here’s the problem. Every year, fewer and fewer Burmese pythons are captured... They’re dying off as well.
Let’s look at this scientifically for a minute. An adult Burmese python 10+ feet long will eat about one every 3 to 6 weeks. Let’s make the math simple and call it one meal a month. That’s 12 meals a year per adult snake. Do you realize how many animals it would take to make a dent in the fauna population in the Everglades? The Burms do not have those numbers and never will... out of a clutch of 60 eggs, less than 3 usually survive to adult hood because they are prey to far too many animals. This holds true even in the Everglades.
So, what then is causing the die off? Simple. Look where the petition to put Burms on the Lacey Act came from and look at the money where it’s coming from and going. The cause is man made and it’s Florida’s dirty little secret. Look at the water management in the area and who runs it, then look at who petitioned FWS for the Lacey Act stuff and look at the money flow.
On top of that, look at the illegal dumping of toxic chemicals in the region and ask why Florida is doing so little about it.
Burms are an invasive species but they have minimal impact due to their metabolism. For every 100 animals a Burm kills and eats, a cat will have killed thousands. Cats are a much more significant threat to the Everglades than any snake will ever be.
Hate the snakes all you want, they are not the issue here. They are being used as a scape goat to protect someone from going to jail. Unless the assault on the Burms stops and the real issue is addressed soon, the Everglades and every animal in there, including the Burmese python, will be gone.
Extinction is the norm.