Question about Florida snake problem

[J Miller]

OK, yesterday on some channel there was a program about the pythons, boa constrictors and anacondas that are proliferating in Florida.
The way the program described them is that they are pretty much destroying the indigenous animals, and are a major threat to humans.

Now my question; since these are non-indigenous invaders why don't the Florida authorities just put a permanent bounty on them and let the people down there just kill every one they see?

From what the program said, Florida has put out a short hunting season on them netting only 50 of the thousands there. That seems hugely stupid to me.

Joe

[m.wun]

I would think they would want to kill everyone seen myself!

[.45colt]

Makes a lot of sense to Me as well. they also have a whole bunch of big lizards running around, can't rember the name . I wouldn't want to live down there without a shotgun in reach all the time. I'll take the winter in Ohio.

[Rusty]

The snakes in question live in the Florida Everglades. There's no way to tell why the Game commission makes the decisions they do. I think what the FWC does do is to once a year put together a round up to make a concentrated effort to kill all they can at that time. I've seen clips of hunter using dogs to sniff them out where they tunnel under the thick grass. I've never checked the game regs but I've always been under the impression there's no season on them because they aren't a recognized game species. If there's no season they are not regulated and they can be killed at any time.

[gundownunder]

I would think they would declare them a pest to be shot on sight.
Tell the locals they are delicious, nutritious, and taste like 60 lbs chickens
As for the lizards, I saw a doco on them and they were iguanas.

[J Miller]

Snake skin leather is very expensive from what I've been told. Looks to me like there's a ready source of it for the taking .....

Joe

[octagon]

I read that the lizards are black and white Tegus from S America.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

The Everglades is a big place. I'm afraid they are here to stay barring the invention of some genetically targeted disease for them.

[bmtshooter]

Tell some of those Louisiana swamp boys that these critters make a great gumbo. Shouldn't take too long to wipe them out.

[J Miller]

I had a friend that ate all the rattle snakes he killed. They were skinny little AZ snakes. Looks like the meat in those monster snakes could feed a lot of hungry folks.

Joe

[gundownunder]

Looks like the meat in those monster snakes could feed a lot of hungry folks.

The Burmese pythons go about 60LB full size in the wild, and Burmese are what you've got in the Everglades.
One article I've read suggests there may be upwards of 600,000 of them in the park.
If my calculator is to be believed, that gives you the potential for about 16 thousand tons of snake , just begging to be turned into meat, handbags, shoes, and clothes.
If they don't taste like chicken, who cares. Start a processing plant nearby and turn them into dog food or fertilizer.

[TravisM]

The snakes are so bad that they are actually keeping the wild rabbit population stagnant! I wouldn't worry about the snakes too much longer though. The discovery of invasive Nile Crocodiles will take care of them soon enough.





What do you think? 45-70?

[J Miller]

For that monster ..... I think the 30 mm they have in the A 10 would be more appropriate.

Joe

[TravisM]

[Gobblerforge]

Makes a lot of sense to Me as well. they also have a whole bunch of big lizards running around, can't rember the name . I wouldn't want to live down there without a shotgun in reach all the time. I'll take the winter in Ohio.

I've said for a long time that I don't stay in Ohio for what we have, it's for what we don't have.
Tsunamis, volcanoes, alligators, crocodiles, large snakes, extreme heat, extreme cold and for half the year I don't have mosquitos.

[BAGTIC]

The Everglades is a park. Is any kind of hunting shooting permitted in there? One problem is that if lots of people are admitted to wander around with guns there are always some who will not be responsible and stick to shooting the unprotected vermin. In an area that large and wild it could be difficult to maintain enough supervision to enforce the rules. Otherwise I agree there might be more success encouraging individuals to kill on sight or recruit commercial hunters that would be easier to control as their access points would be easier to control and potential loss of a profitable business could exercise some self control.

[Bill in Oregon]

Travis, in "The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia," Samuel Baker relates sailing up the Nile and pulling up next to a sandbar. Then the sandbar submerges and swims slowly into the depths. He explored the upper Nile basin from 1861 to 1862.

[rbertalotto]

I believe there is a bounty of some type on the large snakes in Florida and they do have some kind of "round up" competition I've read about.

[TravisM]

Yes. Florida does have a Python Round-up once a year. They get maybe 70 snakes. Because it's designated a park there is no open season. (I think it's to prevent "accidental" killing of native species like alligators and tortoises.

What's personally more interesting to me is that even in no-hunting "preserve" areas, they have once a year hog hunting. State law allows for legal concealed carry there, but no long guns. (Lots of history of deer poaching there.)

[gundownunder]

So, correct me if I'm wrong.

Because this is a national park, the Burmese python which is an invasive, introduced species, which threatens the entire ecosystem in the park, is protected by the national park?

Have I got that right?

[Joe Reilly]

So, correct me if I'm wrong.

Because this is a national park, the Burmese python which is an invasive, introduced species, which threatens the entire ecosystem in the park, is protected by the national park?

Have I got that right?

Only in America!

[TravisM]

So, correct me if I'm wrong.

Because this is a national park, the Burmese python which is an invasive, introduced species, which threatens the entire ecosystem in the park, is protected by the national park?

Have I got that right?

Not intentionally. They want to protect the native species and don't trust the locals to not get spooked and shoot them either by mistake or from being spooked. So the pythons are protected as a side effect.