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Posted on 07/26/2025 12:05:05 PM PDT by NautiNurse
Scientists at the University of Florida are deploying the so-called “robo-bunnies” throughout South Florida in hopes of drawing Burmese pythons out of their hiding places so they can be euthanized, reports Kimberly Miller for the Palm Beach Post. By luring the pythons to the rabbit look-alikes, biologists can save time that might otherwise be spent searching through the swamp for the snakes.
The animatronic rabbits are outfitted with motors and internal heaters that are designed to replicate the behaviors and body temperatures of live marsh rabbits (Sylvilagus palustris), which Burmese pythons love to eat.
The South Florida Water Management District is funding the robotic rabbit experiment, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has paid for related research in the past.
[Snip]
In the past, researchers have experimented with placing live rabbits in pens in a bid to attract the invasive serpents in Everglades National Park. The live rabbits were indeed effective at luring the snakes, drawing in about one per week, but caring for and managing the small mammals was labor-intensive.
“If we can see a statistically significant number of pythons that are coming to investigate these robotic rabbits and the pens, that would be a success, because right now, pythons do a great job of staying hidden,” says Mike Kirkland, lead invasive animal biologist for the South Florida Water Management District, to WINK-TV’s Bridget Bruchalski.
“If that python is detected, then it contacts someone like myself, who’s available 24 hours a day, and then I can deploy one of our many contractors to go remove it,” Kirkland tells WINK-TV.
If the initial experiment fails to attract pythons, the scientists plan to run a second round of tests with realistic rabbit scents added to the mechanical creatures.
[Snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
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If all you are going to fight a Burmese python with is a garden hoe I’m putting my money on the python!
The Rabbit of Caerbannog, often referred to in popular culture as the Killer Rabbit.
I warned you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you knew it all, didn’t you? Oh, it’s just a harmless little bunny, isn’t it? Well, it’s always the same. I always tell them—
Great to have realistic and life-like lure, but every fisherman will tell you ya gotta have a hook in it.
Hook bunny up with live cell camera.
Spray with bunny scent.
If video confirmed as eaten by a python, trigger it to deploy telescopic 8” barbed rods on three axis.
Put a bounty on them and host cooking contests. The Filipinos will clear them out fast.
My python boots are too tight.
L
My understanding is the Florida open season does not include Federal lands such as Everglades.
>Even worse, the robo-rabbits might demand hazardous duty pay, disability and death benefits.
In other words they might unionize. Figures they would do that
Or mutant sea bass
Are they ill-tempered?
If those government idiots allowed shotguns I might help otherwise get lost.
“My python boots are too tight.”
Love it!
“Otherwise, “humanely killed” is often used.”
Squeeze them to death under a front loader.
LOL. I also noticed their choice of words for killing snakes. Sounds as if they were going to give them a shot of permanent sleep juice and not just whack off their heads or shooting them.
A common complaint, I'm sure.
For the people who need some sort of compression socks, though - could be just the ticket.
A front loader in the Everglades. Interesting concept, challenging in practice.
Berserker Bunnies, tip o’the hat to Fred Saberhagen, lol.
Alright then, a Bobcat!😀
But keep the bounties small enough that people don’t start breeding them to cash in.
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