For once, some responsible reporting on something snake related.

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/dorcas_...erglades/2573/

I am impressed by a large number of things in this article.

1) Mr. Dorcas does not blame the problem on pet owners releasing their large snakes into the everglades.

2) Seeing actual data about decreases in native species, and even more importantly he said that the decline was likely a result of the pythons but didn't claim it outright. He did what a good scientist does - presents data and conclusions drawn from it without claiming that what the results suggested was the absolute truth. He claimed that it is a hypothesis with data to back it up.

3) Mr. Dorcas didn't make them out to be man-eaters. This is important to me because 1) they aren't man eaters and 2) many news outlets have made them out to be man-eaters, along with ball pythons (clearly not the brightest people doing it but still, it has been done).

4) Mr. Dorcas essentially said the the ban of the big 4 wouldn't have an impact on the situation in Florida, which was, I believe, the main factor driving the addition of these animals the the list of injurious wildlife species.

I was disappointed that he said that we should consider up to 1/3 of the U.S. becoming inhabited by these snakes, especially right after he said that he did a study in South Carolina in which no snakes survived the winter.

In all it was a very good read and while a bit long, I urge you to take the time to read it all if you have any interest in the situation in the everglades with burms.

The Everglades has a lot of problems that aren't related to the pythons, resulting from the encroachment of subdivisions and water management and yeah, rising temperatures. The decline in species was already happening before the pythons were introduced... okay, certainly such a massive non-native predator is contributing to the problem.

But I worry that the pythons are become such an attention-grabbing media hog, that nobody's paying any attention to or addressing all the other, likely even more serious threats to the Everglades habitat.

That is a very accurate view, I'm afraid. Maybe more people should whisper in politicians ears about encroachment as opposed to man eating snakes if they want to save the everglades.