Hunters Confront Lurking Python Threat in Everglades

[wolfy-hound]

Ha! Now I'm picturing BP putting out a press release that their oil spill is an honest effort to eradicate all the invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

[Jeremy78]

Yep, next up, Massive population of Unicorns in the Everglades. Unicorns are known to feed on all manner of indigious plants... we've estimated there's nearly a million unicorns in the Everglades. What? No, we haven't actually seen any.. but we just KNOW they are all OVER the place!

Yes, I know, there actually ARE burmese in the Everglades, but the numbers are so inflated and ridiculous as to be laughable. Add in the people declaring the numbers are real while being unable to find a python to kill.. it's just plain dumb.

Plus.. with 200,000 pythons, and at least 50% dead(estimates have gone as high as 90% by some), where are all the bodies? HAve you ever smelled a dead snake? Trust me.. the Everglades should be a hazmat zone with at LEAST 100,000 dead snakes. Even if they were burrowed up, you'd still be smelling those things, because a dead python in the heat is NOT a smell you can miss.

Dude I'm sorry to say but your assumption makes absolutely no sence. Let's take some math into consideration here...

Everglades = 109493.1 acres
median burm weight (according to officails) = 100 pounds
estimated death toll = 100000 snakes
estimated pile of rotting snake flesh per acre = 91.33 pounds per acre

oh wait. I guess it did make sence.

[blackcrystal22]

Do they know that there are invasive species that have been consuming the U.S. for thousands of years?
Almost all grasses are brought over by the Spanish, very few true prairie grasses still exist that were native to the continent.

Same with birds. European Starlings have taken over the North American continent with numbers in the millions.. all because of a Shakespeare enthusiast who released all birds mentioned in Shakespeare Literature into the U.S. in 1890 and 1891. Most Sparrow species are also non-native. Starlings have killed off thousands of native birds and some are even extinct due to their highly aggressive nature.

Feral cats do more damage to the environment than burms ever have.

North American wild horses are almost gone in the wild, and all of the horse species we ride and race and often see in the wild are not native.

People need to understand that things we often overlook as being native, are actually not at all.

Some of you may find this interesting:
http://www.invasive.org/

There will always be extinction as long as humans are around to move species back and forth as well as themselves.

[Raptor]

North American wild horses are almost gone in the wild, and all of the horse species we ride and race and often see in the wild are not native.

I'd like to point out that the feral (they're considered feral due to coming from domesticated stock) horses are not native to the US. The native horses died out several thousand years ago.

[nixer]

Do they know that there are invasive species that have been consuming the U.S. for thousands of years?
Almost all grasses are brought over by the Spanish, very few true prairie grasses still exist that were native to the continent.

Same with birds. European Starlings have taken over the North American continent with numbers in the millions.. all because of a Shakespeare enthusiast who released all birds mentioned in Shakespeare Literature into the U.S. in 1890 and 1891. Most Sparrow species are also non-native. Starlings have killed off thousands of native birds and some are even extinct due to their highly aggressive nature.

Feral cats do more damage to the environment than burms ever have.

North American wild horses are almost gone in the wild, and all of the horse species we ride and race and often see in the wild are not native.

People need to understand that things we often overlook as being native, are actually not at all.

Some of you may find this interesting:
http://www.invasive.org/

There will always be extinction as long as humans are around to move species back and forth as well as themselves.

that site is interesting, yet the coyote is hardly an invasive species its native and so are may other animals on that list.
the wood rat is an invasive species that are protected? thats funny
how about the mallard duck! thats hardly invasive! its a federally protected species and also migrates

[garweft]

Ball pythons are listed as well......

Seems someone doesn't know the difference between introduced, invasive, and naturalized.....

[WingedWolfPsion]

I didn't see woodrats on the list there. Did I miss something?

I would like to know how native Mallard ducks are an invasive species. lol.

Perhaps they meant to refer to domesticated mallards, rather than wild mallards? If so, they really needed to specify.

It does look like anything found loose in Florida is suddenly an invasive species.

[pavlovk1025]

I didn't see woodrats on the list there. Did I miss something?

I would like to know how native Mallard ducks are an invasive species. lol.

Perhaps they meant to refer to domesticated mallards, rather than wild mallards? If so, they really needed to specify.

It does look like anything found loose in Florida is suddenly an invasive species.

Infraction worthy joke to be made on that post....