General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFlorida's Python Challenge
In an effort to either reduce or eliminate the state's Burmese Python population the Florida Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has created a Python Challenge. The website for the challenge says that the purpose of the challenge is to make the public aware of the danger the Burmese Python can cause to the Everglades ecosystem.
In this challenge people who register and pay a $25 fee will be allowed to kill seemingly as many pythons as they like. The person who kills the most Pythons will win $1,500. The person who kills the longest Python will win $1,000.
So, what is the opinion of DU members?
http://pythonchallenge.org/
dionysus
(26,467 posts)Cary
(11,746 posts)I have been there several times now. They have a nice snake show every day. According the handlers Hurricane Andrew destroyed an exotic snake warehouse in the Everglades in 1992 and there have been DNA studies that have linked the pythons to the ones in the warehouse.
I don't know if that's true, but I've heard the personnel at the Naples Zoo say that. Several handlers, over about a 4 year period, have told that story. And they also say that the problem is grossly overstated.
dionysus
(26,467 posts)Cary
(11,746 posts)I'm still not 100% convinced of the ethics of hunting them down like that.
hack89
(39,171 posts)Cary
(11,746 posts)I don't know.
hack89
(39,171 posts)I am not sure there is much more that could be done if you want to kill a huge number of snakes in a relatively short period. Florida recommends a shot to the head or decapitation.
flamin lib
(14,559 posts)ecosystem where they do not belong. To kick the question back at ya', How is it not ethical to eradicate a foreign species that is devastating indigenous species?
Regardless of how they got here they don't belong here and are a real danger the existence of native species.
Cary
(11,746 posts)Laffy Kat
(16,383 posts)I'm a total softy and this bothers me to no end. Sure do wish there was an alternative.
woodsprite
(11,916 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)the python that kills the most humans get?
What about the human that kills the most humans while trying to kill the most pythons?
Dread Pirate Roberts
(1,896 posts)I was trying to find an appropriate picture!
Laxman
(2,419 posts)that right-wing nut job John Voight might actually get eaten by a large snake?
Ii know who I'm rooting for in that picture.
barbtries
(28,799 posts)though i wouldn't be taking part, i think they pose a real threat to the ecosystem. at least that's my understanding, correct me if i'm wrong.
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)Rather than hire extra fish game and wildlife employees to deal with exotic pet enforcement and population control/eradication; they are using this as a method of cheap labor by knowingly targeting a demographic which will likely eat this up as 'sport' the entire way...
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)to pay for the FW employees to protect native birds, pets, and miscellaneous nongame wildlife from these things?
I know that jobs are needed, and I'm sympathetic. But I also have no problem with using volunteer labor for conservation projects. Getting volunteers into nature on these projects creates awareness and a sense of being a necessary part of natural lands stewardship.
As a matter of full disclosure, I've worn out a couple Sandvik safety axes as a volunteer controlling wood weeds on prairie restorations and wetland protection.
Also is it a great idea to send every untrained Tom, Dick and Harry into the swamp chasing after dangerous snakes?
montanto
(2,966 posts)in an ecosystem where it can really thrive and damage the native species. Better to kill them off.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)slackmaster
(60,567 posts)Rampaging in the wilderness and displacing native species, they're not so cool.
Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)and are quite prolific. You might want to take a look st this article.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120814-burmese-python-snake-florida-eggs-biggest-science/
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)And is spreading rapidly. No matter who does it, the only way to curb the spread is to kill the snakes. The snakes are killing off the natural fauna.
They've tried pretty much everything already, except paying a fixed fee for each snake turned in, which is where they'll end up.
Also, they are trying to make a splash with this program to get the public to be more aware about the problem so that more snakes aren't released into the wild.
MineralMan
(146,317 posts)should have one of the pythons released in their house. That oughta do it.
PD Turk
(1,289 posts)of all these motherf***ing snakes in my motherf***ing house!!
I miss the DUzies. But your post is worthy.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)I had two pet boa constrictors loose in my house. I could never find them. They only came out when they were hungry.
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)Rocky888
(297 posts)I am 6th generation Floridian. I have have camped in the Glades most of my youth. The idiots that brought these snakes into this country/state to sell o ompletely uneducated idiots should be held accountable for the distruction of the florida Eco wildlife system. Every bill that a democrat drafted, never made it to the floor, til recently, and it was shot down by the rethugs. It would hurt business bullshit. The exotic animal business backed by Alec ......... This hunt s the best news I have heard here in florida, since election.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Bigmack
(8,020 posts)I'm going to post this as reply to the whole thread, too.
I've eaten snake, but not those monsters.
What the hell are they gonna do with the damned things?
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)It may be inevitable, with climate change and so forth, but I can't fault an attempt to protect gators, birds, and other native species getting gobbled up by giant pet-store escapees and their offspring.
We screwed it up so we should try to fix it. I just read where they're dropping giant packages of blue rat poison on the Galapagos, because rats are wiping out 100% of turtle eggs or some such.
Retrograde
(10,137 posts)Why not have a Python cook-off? Award prizes for the best recipes using python (they probably taste like chicken), maybe with categories like "Best Python Chili" or "Best Python Barbecue". Or a python fashion show, with workshops on making python vests of belts.
The highlight of the events will be a public shaming of the stupid idiots who thought it was a good idea to first buy an exotic species and then release it into the wild.
Archae
(46,337 posts)War Horse
(931 posts)but such a contest by The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries sounds like an admittance of failure to me.
I'm torn on this. Sure, get the locals to take care of business if need be, but stuff like this can get out of hand easily.
hack89
(39,171 posts)they have to kill them faster than they can breed. You really think the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has that kind of man power?
wryter2000
(46,051 posts)It's necessary. All those beautiful snakes destroyed because stoopid humans had pets they couldn't take care of and released them.
So many idiots get reptiles without thinking about their care.
okwmember
(345 posts)There is no other option but to kill as many as possible. Given the number of eggs being laid, I'm just afraid its too little too late.
MadHound
(34,179 posts)Open it up to anybody, even if they are from out of state. I guarantee that Florida's python problem would disappear in five years.
spin
(17,493 posts)They do a lot of damage to the environment as they are also an invasive species.
distantearlywarning
(4,475 posts)The Everglades is a delicate eco-system.
I also read recently that they have caught a few Nile Crocodiles outside Miami in the last year!
arthritisR_US
(7,288 posts)bluestate10
(10,942 posts)raccoon
(31,111 posts)hedgehog
(36,286 posts)Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)I'm not sure if they will ever be able to stop the invasion of this species. We humans are pretty good at fucking things up royally
quaker bill
(8,224 posts)As a wetlands ecologist who works in FL, the fewer 20'+ snakes I run into the better. The native 8'+ snakes are good enough for me.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)Above I posted that they taste like chicken. I've eaten snake on occasion.
FarCenter answered that they are high in mercury.
Was he ever right!
http://www.livescience.com/8528-mercury-invasive-pythons-menu.html
"...highest mercury levels of any animal in the park up to 3.5 parts per million. By comparison, the state of Florida considers fish containing more than 1.5 parts per million of mercury unsafe to eat.."
That's gonna complicate the control of those things. Lots of hunters might go out if there's the possibility of a whole lot of edible meat, but if you can't even eat them.....