Officials give up on evicting pythons — big but nearly invisible in the wild — from Everglades

[n2doc]

Only in Florida can a search for one invasive monster lead to the discovery of another.

On a balmy Sunday recently, a group of volunteers called Swamp Apes was searching for pythons in Everglades National Park when it stumbled on something worse: a Nile crocodile, lurking in a canal near Miami suburbs.

It was an all-points alarm, prompting an emergency response by experts from the national park, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Florida. They joined the Swamp Apes and wrestled the reptile out of the canal. Nile crocs are highly aggressive man-eaters known to take down huge prey in Africa, and officials worried that the one in the canal might be breeding in the swamp since it was first spotted two years ago.

Worrying is what Florida wildlife officials often do when it comes to invasive species. The state is being overrun by animals, insects and plants that should not be there, costing Floridians half a billion dollars each year in, among other things, damaged orange groves, maimed pets and dead fish in water where plants have depleted the oxygen.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/big-but-nearly-invisible-in-the-wild-officials-give-up-on-evicting-pythons-from-everglades/2014/03/16/58cab268-aa37-11e3-8599-ce7295b6851c_story.html

[geek tragedy]

1. croc is a bigger human safety threat, but less of an ecological threat than the

pythons.

there are already American crocodiles in Florida. And, this one won't have a chance to breed so its overall impact is nil.

[Brigid]

3. Provided there is only one.

How do we know that?

[geek tragedy]

4. I guess we don't technically, but they don't tolerate cold anywhere near

as well as pythons or alligators do. It's very unlikely that a breeding population will form given those circumstances--they're confined to the very southern tip of Florida.

[steve2470]

2. paging Tommy Carcetti, now we can add to our awesomeness

We have Nile crocodiles in addition to panthers !

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. I think they had an open season on pythons not too long ago.

And they managed to kill something like 44. It's hopeless. They are virtually invisable in the swamps. And they grow to be huge - like 60 feet long or more. Florida is the perfect environment for them.

They are also decimating the natural wildlife in the swamps. I saw a video of one killing an alligator - a big alligator. Lasted hours but the alligator finally just gave up and died.

[X_Digger]

7. Well, burmese top out at 15-16 feet, anacondas at 20, reticulated at 20-25.

A 60 foot snake would be all over the news.

[snooper2]

6. Okay, we have talked about cutting Florida off before-

But now we have something the other lower 47 can get behind-

We have to cut off the limb to save the body

Can't have these creatures moving into other states- The only solution is to amputate!

(I'm thinking like a 20 mile swath that would connect the Gulf to the Atlantic right through Jacksonville. Anything north of that which was previously "Florida" before that like Tallahassee, Georgia and Alabama get to split)

[KamaAina]

9. Not gonna happen

Can't have these creatures moving into other states- The only solution is to amputate!

I doubt they could live anywhere north of I-4 (Tampa-Orlando-Daytona), if that far north.

[snooper2]

11. all we have to do is start a meme saying they "could"

are you in?

[MisterP]

8. the only way to win the game is, of course, not to play

suddenly they want this, this, and this non-Nearctic species BUT NOT THIS ONE

[Blue_Tires]

10. I'm certain someone will carelessly introduce another invasive species

and the problems will become that much worse...