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Over 1,500 hunters help capture 50 pythons in FL
Associated Press via Miami Herald ^ | February 5, 2013

Posted on 02/10/2013 1:50:26 PM PST by PJ-Comix

MIAMI -- More than 1,500 participants of a monthlong python challenge have helped to capture 50 Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission updated the counts Tuesday for the "Python Challenge." The competition began Jan. 12 and ends Feb. 10.

The invasive snakes killed in the Everglades are processed and logged by University of Florida researchers who examine each one hoping to learn more about the elusive species.

No one knows for sure how many pythons live in South Florida. Wildlife officials say eradicating pythons from the Everglades was never the goal of the challenge. Instead, they hoped to raise awareness about the snake's threat to native wildlife and the fragile Everglades ecosystem. The snake faces both state and federal bans.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: florida; pythons
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To: allendale
You're kidding, these snakes would eat cats like M&Ms. You do know they get to be 30 feet long right?
21 posted on 02/10/2013 3:06:42 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: PJ-Comix

The trick here will be to find something the snakes eat that alligators do not. As has been done on Guam against brown snakes, acetaminophen (generic Tylenol), is deadly to reptiles (and many other animals), so they stuff dead mice with them and it kills the snakes.

However, lots of animals will eat dead mice.


22 posted on 02/10/2013 3:08:32 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Best WoT news at rantburg.com)
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To: hinckley buzzard
I take it back, they don't get to be 30 feet at least not here. The Florida record is 17 feet plus. It had 80+ eggs in it, about the size of duck eggs. Delightful creature.
23 posted on 02/10/2013 3:13:44 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: Drew68

Wow.

I’ve always wondered how thugs and scumbags wound up with killer dogs and snakes.


24 posted on 02/10/2013 3:14:54 PM PST by Salamander (We're all kinds of animals comin' round here...occasional demons, too.)
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To: hinckley buzzard

Shhhhhh!


25 posted on 02/10/2013 3:15:55 PM PST by Salamander (We're all kinds of animals comin' round here...occasional demons, too.)
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To: hinckley buzzard

A 5 foot juvenile could eat a cat with no problems.


26 posted on 02/10/2013 3:17:42 PM PST by Salamander (We're all kinds of animals comin' round here...occasional demons, too.)
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To: PJ-Comix
The competition began Jan. 12 and ends Feb. 10.

So why the early end to the competition? One would think they would extend it to at least May and maybe even declare an open season on the damn things and offer a bounty on them..........

But then again I don't work for the government...........

27 posted on 02/10/2013 3:18:03 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (Jab her with a harpoon or just throw her from the train......)
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To: hinckley buzzard

You need a canoe, a bill cap, sun screen, a .22 rifle and a couple of pet crows. Oh, and a catch stick like animal control guys use. The crows are to spot the snakes.


28 posted on 02/10/2013 3:22:43 PM PST by Rifleman
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To: PJ-Comix

What they need is a severe freeze.


29 posted on 02/10/2013 3:26:05 PM PST by fso301
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To: Salamander
i see what you did there...
30 posted on 02/10/2013 3:35:26 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: Chode

;]


31 posted on 02/10/2013 3:37:36 PM PST by Salamander (We're all kinds of animals comin' round here...occasional demons, too.)
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To: Hot Tabasco
Wildlife officials say eradicating pythons from the Everglades was never the goal of the challenge. Instead, they hoped to raise awareness about the snake's threat to native wildlife and the fragile Everglades ecosystem.

The govt goal is never solving the problem but raising awareness of the problem........................
32 posted on 02/10/2013 3:42:02 PM PST by PeterPrinciple ( Lord save me from some conservatives, they don't understand human nature any better than liberals.)
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To: AnAmericanMother

Very Cool !


33 posted on 02/10/2013 4:01:45 PM PST by onona (KCCO, and mind the gap)
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To: PJ-Comix

where the snakes live, people can’t penetrate. the vegetationis just too thick


34 posted on 02/10/2013 4:10:22 PM PST by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 .....The fairest Deduction to be reduced is the Standard Deduction)
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To: PJ-Comix

I have a genuine python wallet and purse. On our Alaskan cruise last summer we dined one evening with a husband and wife and seventeen year old son from Florida. When the young man spotted my wallet he thanked me for helping to save the wildlife of the Everglades from non-native pythons. The subject of his high school term paper was how non-native species endangered the eco-systems of Florida. Snake skin is very durable. After almost a year of use neither the purse or wallet show any wear.


35 posted on 02/10/2013 4:20:08 PM PST by Irish Queen ("Don't fence me in")
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To: PJ-Comix

***50 Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades.***

Only fifty? Maybe they should play the music to attract snakes from THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095488/?ref_=sr_1


36 posted on 02/10/2013 4:44:17 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Click my name! See new paintings!)
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To: hinckley buzzard

The cats would of course probably lose one on one with a mature python, but they would play havoc with the python’s nests, eggs and very young. Just a thought.


37 posted on 02/10/2013 4:58:28 PM PST by allendale
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To: VeniVidiVici

“Though you have to wonder how they come up with that number.”

I imagine that they use some of the same capture-recapture statistical methods fisheries biologists use to estimate the number of fish in a body of water. Tagging a sample is probably a first step. (My guess would be “tagging” with an RFID insert.)


38 posted on 02/10/2013 5:07:31 PM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: PeterPrinciple
"Wildlife officials say eradicating pythons from the Everglades was never the goal of the challenge. Instead, they hoped to raise awareness about the snake's threat to native wildlife and the fragile Everglades ecosystem.

The govt goal is never solving the problem but raising awareness of the problem........................ "

What color ribbon does Everglades Ecosystem Awareness get?

Camo?

39 posted on 02/10/2013 5:10:43 PM PST by knife6375 (US Navy Veteran)
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To: PJ-Comix
So...did they have a Cook - Off afterwords?
40 posted on 02/10/2013 6:39:20 PM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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