Giant pythons invade southeastern Florida: study

AFP ^ | 5-15-08

[Darren McCarty]

MIAMI (AFP) - Giant pythons capable of swallowing a dog and even an alligator are rapidly making south Florida their home, potentially threatening other southeastern states, a study said.

"Pythons are likely to colonize anywhere alligators live, including north Florida, Georgia and Louisiana," said Frank Mazzotti, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences professor, in his two-year study.

The pythons thriving in Florida are mostly Burmese pythons from Myanmar that were brought over as pets and then turned loose in the wild.

From 2002-2005, 201 of the beasts were caught by state authorities, but in the last two years the number has more than doubled to 418, Mazzotti said in his study published on the university website.

The largest python caught so far in Florida measured five meters (16.4 feet) and weighed 70 kilograms (154 pounds).

[Kenny Bunk]

I’d say hunt these critters to extinction and get an extension to the barbeque grill.

I'd say you're cruisin' for a long spell in the Algonquin J. Obama Re-Education Centre, which is just south of Hanoi and surrounded by many python species.

(1) you are pro-hunting (2) The 20-ft grill you envision woulod leave a carbon footprint wider than Al Gore aqnd Hillary Clinton's butt-width combined. I wish I could offer you some hope, but even if Global Warming McCain is elected, You are going down, buddy.

Your only chance is to join the Francis Marion Python Eaters in the swamps near you.