Environment & Energy

hatrack

(59,587 posts) Fri Feb 8, 2013, 09:25 AM Feb 2013

Everglades Python Hunt A Bust - Maybe 50 Snakes Killed Out Of Estimated 150,000

(Reuters) - A nearly month-long hunt for Burmese pythons in Florida's Everglades was wrapping up this week with little to show for the efforts of more than 1,500 would-be snake slayers armed with everything from clubs and machetes to firearms and spears.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which organized the hunt, known as the Python Challenge, said on Thursday that only 50 Burmese pythons had been reported captured or killed as part of the event.

That means the hunt, which kicked off with great fanfare on January 12 and ends on Sunday, barely put a dent in the population of non-native snakes that have made a home and breed in the fragile Everglades wetlands.

Officials have said previously that the population is believed to have grown to as many as 150,000. The snakes are one of the largest species in the world and native to Southeast Asia. But they found a home to their liking in the Everglades when pet owners started using the wetlands as a convenient dumping ground.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/07/us-usa-florida-pythons-idUSBRE91618J20130207?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

8 replies

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Everglades Python Hunt A Bust - Maybe 50 Snakes Killed Out Of Estimated 150,000 (Original Post) hatrack Feb 2013 OP

Hunting them.... dumb.... letting them hunt and find themselves in a trap they can't escape... 2on2u Feb 2013 #1

As a reptile owner this irks me rightsideout Feb 2013 #2

How so? dbackjon Feb 2013 #6

150,000 seems awfully high Demeter Feb 2013 #3

I am similarly skeptical missingthebigdog Feb 2013 #4

Sightings of large ones are increasingly common Yo_Mama Feb 2013 #5

You are sadly mistaken dbackjon Feb 2013 #8

They have done surveys. Samples then estimated from there. dbackjon Feb 2013 #7

2on2u

(1,843 posts)

1. Hunting them.... dumb.... letting them hunt and find themselves in a trap they can't escape...

Reply to hatrack (Original post)

Fri Feb 8, 2013, 09:28 AM

Feb 2013

maybe better, with GPS and all the electronic wizardry available you could know exactly where and when you have captured one.... retrieve it and do what you will.

rightsideout

(978 posts)

2. As a reptile owner this irks me

Reply to hatrack (Original post)

Fri Feb 8, 2013, 09:34 AM

Feb 2013

I hate hearing about the killing of reptiles. Yea, I know the pythons are an invasive species but they are hunting the wrong creatures in my opinion.

dbackjon

(6,578 posts)

6. How so?

Reply to rightsideout (Reply #2)

Fri Feb 8, 2013, 12:16 PM

Feb 2013

Burmese Pythons are ruining the environment - killing all the native wildlife.

Every Burmese Python in this country should be killed. Owning one shoudl be illegal. Importing them illegal.

Demeter

(85,373 posts)

3. 150,000 seems awfully high

Reply to hatrack (Original post)

Fri Feb 8, 2013, 09:36 AM

Feb 2013

I question how they arrived at such a figure.

missingthebigdog

(1,233 posts)

4. I am similarly skeptical

Reply to Demeter (Reply #3)

Fri Feb 8, 2013, 10:50 AM

Feb 2013

All of the press I have seen on this puts forth the notion that there are all of these huge snakes in the everglades, and that they have no natural predators. But if the snakes abandoned by irresponsible owners are reproducing, their offspring ARE NOT huge. It takes a long time for snakes to get that big. Little snakes have all kinds of predators- birds, rodents, possums, other snakes, etc.

I am not arguing that the snakes aren't a problem, only that they are not the catastrophe of epic proportions that some would have you believe.

Yo_Mama

(8,303 posts)

5. Sightings of large ones are increasingly common

Reply to missingthebigdog (Reply #4)

Fri Feb 8, 2013, 11:43 AM

Feb 2013

They've been breeding there for quite a while. 12 to 17 feet snakes are being sighted and caught.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/08/scientists-show-largest-python-ever-found-everglades/55733/
With clutches ranging from 20 to 60 eggs, the problem is ballooning.

There is some pretty strong empirical evidence that they are disrupting the ecosystem:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/23/1115226109

Before 2000, mammals were encountered frequently during nocturnal road surveys within ENP. In contrast, road surveys totaling 56,971 km from 2003–2011 documented a 99.3% decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations, decreases of 98.9% and 87.5% for opossum and bobcat observations, respectively, and failed to detect rabbits. Road surveys also revealed that these species are more common in areas where pythons have been discovered only recently and are most abundant outside the python's current introduced range. These findings suggest that predation by pythons has resulted in dramatic declines in mammals within ENP and that introduced apex predators, such as giant constrictors, can exert significant top-down pressure on prey populations. Severe declines in easily observed and/or common mammals, such as raccoons and bobcats, bode poorly for species of conservation concern, which often are more difficult to sample and occur at lower densities.

Although this particular effort was doomed to fail, all the other efforts have also failed dramatically. Eventually I suppose they will begin eating each other, but that isn't going to leave a whole lot of the native ecosystem. The rabbits in some areas are about gone, and that does in the bobcats. Threatened domestic species are heading straight for extinction in their native habitat.

PS: One of the purposes of this hunt was that the university collecting and cataloging the snakes will do a survey of the captured snakes. They are looking for all sorts of data, including stomach contents. The locations of the captures are supposed to be logged, and the idea was that this gimmick might generate some useful data. In particular, the stomach contents will be reviewed to see what they were eating in an attempt to confirm or deny the conclusions of the above study. They will also do genetic studies on them.
http://clikhear.palmbeachpost.com/2013/south-florida/broward-county-miami-dade-county/python-challenge-2013-hunting-snakes-in-the-everglades/

dbackjon

(6,578 posts)

8. You are sadly mistaken

Reply to missingthebigdog (Reply #4)

Fri Feb 8, 2013, 12:18 PM

Feb 2013

They ARE an ecological disaster.

dbackjon

(6,578 posts)

7. They have done surveys. Samples then estimated from there.

Reply to Demeter (Reply #3)

Fri Feb 8, 2013, 12:17 PM

Feb 2013

Pythons are killing all the native mammals and birds. They need to be exterminated.

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