Python Hunting

[JEBar]

delighted to see the authorities are taking this problem seriously


"The roar of shotguns will sound in Everglades National Park, as the war intensifies against the Burmese pythons that have devastated the park’s wildlife.

The park announced Thursday that for the first time it will allow state-contracted python hunters to pursue the giant snakes within its boundaries. And for the first time, it will allow the use of firearms — shotguns only — to kill them.

Although the park already uses more than two dozen of its own volunteers to catch pythons, the new initiative will triple the maximum number of snake hunters from 40 to 120."


source ===> https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/flori ... story.html

[BrokenolMarine]

Bout time. It's sad when exotics introduced into the ecosystem by mistake disrupt the natural flow of things, sadder still when those in the "know" intentionally introduce an outside player thinking it will correct an issue, but it only creates unexpected new problems. Scientists in Hawaii introduced Mongoose to the island to combat the growing cane rat problems. No effect. But they thrived in the environment, and loved the native birds, nearly wiping out the ground nesting state bird.

[Mistered]

delighted to see the authorities are taking this problem seriously

I agree but it might be far too little to late.
They have known about this problem for a long time - as it was attributed to the escape of these snakes after a pet shop was destroyed during a hurricane in 1994.
Tripling the number of hunters from 40 to 120 ? Everglades Ntl. Park is a large area and they would need a 100 times this many to possibly have an effect.
Unfortunately the environment is a perfect match for them and provides excellent cover and concealment.

[BigAl52]

There after the iguana's to. Just read a recent article on that and they want people to destroy everyone they see. Lizard removal with the SGC 22mag would be fun.

[Mistered]

There after the iguana's to.

Those are probably good eating also!

[ESquared]

I saw the story on iguanas on the national news. Seems they're taking over Florida. Iguana exterminators are making a good living in the suburbs!

[RetiredSeabee]

I can’t believe that they only had 40 hunters authorized and only allowed to capture. Tripling that and allowing them to kill is an improvement but short by a long shot. Put a bounty on their skins and open it up to at least 250 hunters who can show that they have the gear and skills to hunt in that swamp without destroying it.

[Henry88]

Florida is reverting to the Jurassic Age............

[Ojaileveraction]

Taste like chicken!

There after the iguana's to.

Those are probably good eating also!

[Mistered]

Taste like chicken!

I am hoping they taste like rattlesnake, or frogs legs.

[CT_Shooter]

True enough, though I'm sure there must be a few young people still living there.

Florida is reverting to the Jurassic Age............

[Henry88]

Sorry Bro, Jurassic , not Geriatric

[JEBar]

[Bugs]

Our iguana problem here in SW Florida is out of control. For a few years (in my neck of the woods) they were concentrated in the Boca Grande area but since have spread into Englewood and Port Charlotte. They get into people's attics and they are a familiar sight in trees and running across lawns and people's attics. We also now have several other larger invasive lizard species here which have nasty bites. The python problem is also out of control and they have spread way beyond the Glades. Thoughts of eradication are just that "thoughts"; once invasive species gain a foothold in a hospitable environment they are all but impossible to eradicate. Limited predation of a species and guys with shotguns are not going to eliminate a predatory snake that has the ability to prosper and adapt to a suitable environment that provides boundless habitat and prey species. Best case scenario is they may be able to slow the spread of the invasion but the species will prosper here despite our best laid plans and efforts. We will just add them to our ever growing list of invasive species and learn to live with them. As for the shotgun predators may those good ole boys have some fun out in the Glades and earn some $$$.

[Mistered]

Have the number of 'missing' persons in the Everglades gone up in recent years?

[BigAl52]

I read online yesterday where a lady in India was killed an eaten by a python when she went out to check her crops.

[GunnyGene]

Taste like chicken!

I am hoping they taste like rattlesnake, or frogs legs.

The pythons are hoping you do also.

[Mistered]

The pythons are hoping you do also.

Actually I was referring to the iguanas but the pythons might not be too bad either - ever had rattlesnake? Pretty good eatin'!

[jimbo510]

This is slightly off topic but I am an LEO and started my career in a small hick town. Think of it as Mayberry with meth. One afternoon I got a call from dispatch about a lady who had a strange animal in her yard that tried to eat her Chihuahua. Dispatch said the lady described the animal as a dinosaur. So i am expecting to deal with a person on drugs or with mental issues. When I get to the house the lady is standing in the yard holding her dog and said "It's in the bushes" and she pointed to a big tree covered in english Ivy. I saw a little bit of a tail sticking out and it looked to me like a black snake so I pulled it a bit and 3 foot monitor lizard shot out after me and hissed like a Jurassic Park resident. I screamed like girl and back peddled and fell on my rear end. The lizard stopped after the first lunge and just sat there hissing. The supervisor over the sewer department was an odd guy who hung out with the Hells Angels caught the thing and we thought it was a komodo dragon. He took it to a zoo and it was some kind of monitor lizard from Asia I think, and they seized it from him and said it was not safe to keep because it had a dirty bite and would eat anything it could over power. It was probably someones pet that either escaped or let go.

[BrokenolMarine]

That's funny rhat thar.

Miss T went thru a weird pet phase when we first married and the kids were young, I built her a climate controlled, glass fronted cage about four foot high, four foot deep and ten foot long... The glass came from an old butcher's case at a grocery store owned by a friend and was nearly a half inch thick, had a green tint and weighed a ton.

Over several years Tina had a monitor... Iguana, sugar glider, chameleon, prairie dog, ball python... Just to name a few. The iguana and ball python were both over six feet long. She was a favorite of the pet shop owner. Tina would buy young pets, raise and feed them, and when she tired of dealing with them, sell them back for store credit, buying some other weirdo pet. Never once did we release a pet into the environment.

We came close. Prairie dogs are escape artists...

He was the last one, when we took him back, we took the store credit in t shirts for the four kids. Then, I disassembled the huge glass fronted cage. Only then did I discover the "sly dog" had been planning his escape. He had chewed threw the linoleum lining the bottom of the cage, the two sheets of 5/8 plywood, the carpet under the cage itself, the hardwood floor under the carpet, and was almost thru the subfloor.

He had been covering the hole with shavings during the day, and the hole was UNDER the large driftwood perch in the corner of the cage. If he had gotten under the house, he would likely have tunneled under the foundation to escape, or chewed thru a vent. In zoos, the little dogs have been known to chew thru concrete to escape.