Florida python hunt

[akaangela]

It is sad, but I have to agree. This is a good idea. In a perfect world we wouldn't have to kill these beautiful animals, however we don't live in a perfect world. At least they are having them use good safety measures.

[Kysenia]

Although this hits close to home, this would be looked at as an example of animal control that has been done with many species of animals. Where I am from Deer are commonly harvested for overpopulation reasons, although python issue is different, the removal of them serves a purpose that has been deemed needed.

My concern with this occuring is I close my eyes and see the following.

Next go round for animal ban....people arguing the need for import/export/trade/breeding to be banned will have pictures. Example.....python after python lined up with the people who caught them and dramatizing how real the problem is. Look at this killer 20 footer that was taken just 1 mile from a residential neighborhood. Just look at this picture that required 5 trained people to subdue and control for capture. This program has lead to kill and capture of 5000 python in a such and such square mile radius. True or false with how this turns out I fear the use of images in their arguement for future proposed legislation.

I support USARK and believe in the stance they are taking. I for one agree that the python issue in Florida needs to be addressed and taken care of. For us to argue that they should be left alone would be an unwise stance, and a stance I dont think many of us support as we fight for our rights as reptile hobbyist and business owners.

[Denial]

I agree they need to be removed but regardless it will not stop the bans that are proposed. They will always find something to try to take from you

[kazboots]

As much as I love animals and my Shiroko is a big baby, These feral pythons are worse than feral cats, which also need to be controlled. Not only do they destroy wildlife but unlike cats, feral pythons are more dangerous to pets and have the potential to harm humans.
I have seen cats from generations of ferals and while a few can be rehabilitated most quite frankly never adjust to captivity completely, while I would allow one of these cats in my home(i don't have kids), an unpredictable 15ft feral burmese could be a fair bit more dangerous. My personal belief is that in ferals only the strongest, meanest,most suspicious and smartest live to reproduce and so after generations the very opposite of what we do in captive breeding occurs. Its just not worth it to keep them alive when so many domesticated burmese need homes, instead of housing ferals we need to concentrate on rescuing unwanteds so idiots don't release them and add to the population of ferals.
I fear that destruction is the only fate for these animals, and feel that those hunting them need to be the most experienced of reptile keepers, the last thing we need is some overconfident redneck getting himself killed trying to hunt down these animals, that would only make matters worse.

[WingedWolfPsion]

"What did you bag?"

"Oh, about 50 English sparrows, 70 European starlings, 1 Burmese, and a stray cat!"

[JLC]

How many species have been hunted to extinction? How many species came CLOSE to being hunted to extinction, and were saved only by the intervention of laws to protect them? Man seems perfectly capable of wiping out entire populations of animals when there is some sort of profit involved...either profit from selling pelts/skins/feathers/meat or profit from supposedly protecting livestock. I don't see any reason why the invasive snakes in Florida can't be similarly wiped out.

Do I like the idea of killing snakes? Of course not. But unpleasant, unhappy, uncomfortable action is often necessary in this world of ours.

[neilgolli]

Media event to kick off South Florida python hunt bags 9-footer

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By David Fleshler South Florida Sun Sentinel

11:28 AM EDT, July 17, 2009

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A crew of snake handlers, with a large group of reporters in tow, hit the Everglades this morning to answer questions about state plans to start hunting Burmese pythons -- and it didn't take long for one of the reptiles to show up.

The hunters caught a 9-foot python at a hunting camp they reached by airboat in west Broward County. The snake, the target of a new campaign to prevent the nonnative constrictors from extending their range beyond Everglades National Park, was put in a pillow case.

Officials plan to decapitate it and examine its stomach contents.

Just a small group of snake killers will participate in the initial hunt, as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission assesses whether this is a feasible way to control a bizarre threat to South Florida's native wildlife.

The snake hunters will travel along roads and levees in the Holey Land, Everglades and Francis S. Taylor wildlife management areas, where hunters shoot deer and hogs.

The men engaging in the hunt are people from the reptile industry, which largely has been blamed for the problem.

State and federal biologists have said the Everglades snakes descended either from released unwanted pets or from an escape during the time of Hurricane Andrew.

Although the state will allow them to sell the meat and hide as compensation, three hunters interviewed said they didn't expect to earn anything.

"We're doing this to show that the reptile industry is interested in getting these snakes removed," said Greg Graziani, a Central Florida reptile breeder who will go on the hunt. "We want to be part of the solution."

As for the carcass, he said, "I don't know anyone who buys meat or hides. For right now, the carcass is not worth anything to me personally. There may not be enough meat or skin to do anything with."

After a day or two of preliminaries, in which they will survey the land, speak with local hunters and obtain maps, they will head out.

They usually will work at night. When they encounter a Burmese python, they will photograph it, note the location with a Global Positioning System, take measurements, determine its sex and cut off its head. They will examine its stomach contents on the spot.

They will not be allowed to use traps or firearms.

Shawn Heflick, of Palm Bay, an approved python hunter, said he's caught lots of pythons in southeast Asia, and there's really no danger to experienced hunters.

"We're not the prey," he said. "They're the prey. We're the predators."

If it's a small one -- say a mere 8-footer -- he'll pick it up with his hand. "You're going to get bit," he said. "But you kind of get used to that."

The reptile industry feels threatened by the publicity over the Everglades pythons and the recent death of a 2-year-old girl in Central Florida who was strangled by a pet python. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, has introduced a bill to ban the import and interstate trade in Burmese pythons, as well as the smaller ball python, which breeders and dealers consider a harmless species unfairly caught up in the Burmese python hysteria.

In a separate development Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced it is considering an expansion of a tightly controlled hunting program at Everglades National Park, where about a dozen volunteers catch pythons. And it said it's working on a program to allow hunters of deer, hogs and other game at Big Cypress National Preserve to shoot the snakes.

Although there has been talk of up to 150,000 pythons in the Everglades, state officials say they can't really estimate the numbers and prefer to simply say there are "thousands." The snakes have been dining on the native wildlife, such as wading birds, bobcats and deer.

The hunters are all reptile experts.

"I got my first snake when I was 4," said Michael Cole, of Haines City, another approved python hunter, who owns Ballroom Pythons South, a reptile company. "I bred my first snake at 13. I was catching and tagging rattlesnakes when I was 15."

Although he says the media and some scientists have unfairly blamed the industry for putting pythons in the Everglades, he acknowledged the industry got them into the country originally. Now he said they want to help solve the problem.

"We're not doing this for the skins or the meat," he said. "We're doing this to get rid of things that shouldn't have been there in the first place."

[Raptor]

Wow. An article that actually puts snake keepers in a positive light. I wish the media would actually report unbiased news like this more often. I still say the bodies should go to vet students and the hides to people interested in taxidermy

[wolfy-hound]

If there is a taxidermy place near you, go ask them. It would be easy for everyone to call up any local places and ask if they would be interested in hides. The meat would probably quickly go bad, and be no good(similar issue with keeping any number of bodies..), and hauling that much snake around all night would be a big PITA. Hides would be fairly easy to take and stuff into a bag.

I'm so very glad that they are doing it, and extremely proud that both Greg and Micheal are partipating! I'd like to look into going down to put in time myself sometime soon.

[stratus_020202]

I just hope they can all go out quickly, and painlessly. How easy is it to shoot a Burmese, and not make it suffer? I know it needs to be done, but it stills tears me up.

Give people a reason to kill, they are going to have fun with it.

I am all for hunting, and have grown up with guns all my life. But I don't know much about them. Are they going to be able to kill them quickly with a gun?