Snakes on the glades – Florida launches mass python hunt

[babylonsister]

Snakes on the glades – Florida launches mass python hunt

Death of Shaiunna Hare, two, sparks state to license trappers to hunt up to 100,000 pythons on the loose owing to exotic pet fad


B199GE Adult female Burmese python (Python molurus), escaped captive, Everglades National Park, Florida. Photograph: All Canada Photos / Alamy/Alamy


The death of a Florida toddler in the coils of an 8ft (2.5 metre) Burmese python has sparked an official crackdown to eradicate a menacing population of slithering predators in the sun-drenched holiday state.

A small band of newly licensed trappers hit the trail this week of pythons living in the swampy wetlands of southern Florida. Experts believe that as many as 100,000 of the reptiles are loose in the region, in an unfortunate outcome of a fad for keeping exotic pets.

Earlier this month, a two-year-old girl, Shaiunna Hare, was strangled to death in her bedroom near Orlando by a python belonging to her mother's boyfriend. The snake had escaped its glass cage during the night and wrapped itself around the child's crib.

The tragedy galvanised Florida's politicians into action over mounting alarm about the danger posed by pythons, which grow as long as 8 metres, weigh up to 89kg (14 stone) and can eat animals as big as deer.

"It's just a matter of time before one of these snakes gets to a visitor in the Florida Everglades," said Bill Nelson, a Democratic senator from the state.

more...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/19/florida-santions-mass-python-hunt

[Chulanowa]

1. Gotta like that.

A pet snake kills a kid, so they go after all the feral ones instead of, you know, putting better regs on the ones kept around kids.

If you get eaten by a snake in the everglades, well, tough shit, snake's gotta eat, too.

[RebelOne]

3. All I can say is that snake was probably hungry

and hadn't been fed. I have had pet boa constrictors and they will not attack anything unless they are really hungry.

[Chulanowa]

5. Probably. Lots of underfed reptiles out there

Seems owners mistake "doesn't need to eat often" with "you don't need to feed them"

I used to keep turtles, myself, but I let them go (they were locals, it was cool) because I was worried about feeding them properly

[tblue37]

19. Maybe. But boas are a lot more docile than pythons. nt

[babylonsister]

7. This has been an ongoing problem in FL.

This is from December 2006:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2972321
Pythons threaten Everglades in Florida

Lots of articles have been posted on DU-here's search results:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/searchresults.html?q=florida+pythons&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com&sa=Search&domains=democraticunderground.com&client=pub-7805397860504090&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en

[Chulanowa]

9. Oh, I understand the ecological problems

I just think the logic given here is silly. "We're hunting them down 'cause someone's pet killed a kid, and someday one of these escapes might do that too" makes a lot less sense than "We're getting rid of them 'cause they're not supposed to be here"

[tblue37]

20. But the death of a child provides the political cover for

spending money to take care of the problem in the Everglades.

[Ex Lurker]

25. whatever get's the public behind it. Sometimes you have to use a little propaganda n/t

[Ex Lurker]

24. Not just a FL problem

these things can live just about anywhere that doesn't get regular below zero temperatures. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080223111456.htm

[tblue37]

18. Those snakes are wrecking the ecosystem in the Everglades.

Florida should have been trying to clear them out anyway, but until a child was killed by a python, they didn't have the political will to spend the money.

[cboy4]

2. How about we license trappers to hunt down and eradicate a menacing

population of idiotic parents who keep dangerous wild animals around their children?

[MrsMatt]

4. Good - they are an invasive species

and don't belong in the Everglades.

And in conjunction, they need much stricter control over the pet trade as well.

[Chulanowa]

6. Well, that would be a much more sensible reason, sure

Heck, even saying "We think they might taste good" would work. I've had snake before, it's okay, and lots of meat on those pythons.

But the reasons given are ridiculous

[malaise]

12. It's all part of 'deregulation gone mad'

People cannot import any damn thing they like without ecological and environmental consequences likes these.

[Vinca]

8. OMG - I'm going to spend my golden years somewhere that has snow.

[blindpig]

10. Blame the importers/retailers for 'snakes in the Glades'

I know that it was the practice back in the 80's to import large, gravid anacondas, hold them until they dropped young(which were eminently more sale-able than their big, mean ass momma)and dump the female into the canals to fend for herself. Anacondas are much more temperature sensitive than Burmese pythons and couldn't survive the winters, but if they did the same with Burmese.......

There are about two dozen invasive herps in Florida, and most can be attributed to the wholesale reptile trade.

[cwydro]

11. When I lived in Orlando 20 years ago,

months after we moved into a rental house, we found a boa wrapped around the silverware drawer one day. My roommate's son went to get a spoon and couldn't get the drawer open.

So he gave it a yank and the snake came out with the drawer.

We just heard this funny-sounding "Mom?" from the kitchen.

Yes, it was alive.

[State the Obvious]

13. Florida: "Python Paradise" nt

[timeforpeace]

14. What could go wrong?

[semillama]

15. I think I've heard it's essentially too late

The snakes are actively breeding, so it's going to be nearly impossible to eradicate them. But I'll be interested to see the results, though.

[Ex Lurker]

26. pay a bounty, get all the rednecks out there hunting them.

we've been able to wipe out other prolific species that actually belonged here.

[semillama]

28. good point n/t.

[Kievan Rus]

16. Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherf*****g snakes!

[WillieW]

17. I hate snakes, can't even look at them IMO they are evil creatures

[tblue37]

21. I like snakes. In fact, I have several amusing snake anecdotes

on my Pet Tales website:

"Snakes Got Feet!"
http://pettales.homestead.com/snakefeet.html

Ah! How Cute!"
http://pettales.homestead.com/howcute.html

"A Sidewinder on the Desk"
http://pettales.homestead.com/sidewinder.html

"My Snake Ate My Other Snake"
http://pettales.homestead.com/knot.html

Most of my articles are about other animals, though (including the one about the black panther that peed on me in Barcelona.)

[Solly Mack]

23. Thank you! Most enjoyable reading!

I like snakes too!

[tblue37]

27. When I ran my home daycare (for 18 years), we always had

snakes. (I had 4 milk snakes, and my friend with the boa used to bring him over to see the kids for short visits.) The kids loved the snakes--they found them fascinating and really liked holding them. Of course, I made sure they washed their hands thoroughly afterward, since reptiles can carry salmonella.

I am an animal lover generally (as all the articles on my site indicate), so my apartment was sort of like a petting zoo for the kids--cats, ferrets, snakes, lizards. What fun it was!

Now I have three cats, but that's all. Still, I often visit the pet store to play with ferrets, parrots, etc.

My snakes (the milk snakes) were eventually released out by the lake, where they have occasionally been seen by a friend, the amateur herpetologist who initially owned the boa, while he was out for his morning run. He says they have gotten quite big. I am hoping they are breeding, since milk snakes are a threatened but valuable species in Kansas and Missouri.

[KillCapitalism]

22. Cobras too.

A guy I know used to be a tour guide in the Everglades. He once encountered a cobra on a trail. I wonder how that got there?