Killing pythons for cash

[toyota89]

Just found this article.
http://mobi.timesdispatch.com/richmo...tguid=vSbJJPkV

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[BrandiR]

They've been talking about this on Fox News all day (I work with Republicans). They suggest, "One shot to the head, one hard blow with a machete to cut its head off, and whatever you do, do NOT let one of these Pythons wrap around you." Sound advice, thanks.

[toyota89]

Yeah I saw a little bit on TV then I looked it up on the internet.

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[MarkS]

What an asinine contest. How are they going to stop people from bringing in snakes from outside? I could lay my hands on several DOZEN burms right now for a lot less then 5 grand. What's to stop anyone else from doing the same thing, driving them down to Florida and making a little profit?

I can see it now, dozens of people from several different states dragging their craigslist aquisitions with them down to Florida in the hopes of winning the jackpot. Of course once they get there they may realize that they don't have a chance of winning because somebody else brought even more snakes then they did, and since they don't want to get caught with all of these illegal snakes, they'll just let them go in the swamps... there are just SO many ways that something like this can go very very wrong. Someone wasn't thinking very clearly when they came up with this idea.

[toyota89]

I might see some good in it if the snakes were used for food like crocs and alligators. But this is all out of unreasonable fear.

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[BrandiR]

Admittedly, I don't live in Florida and I don't know a lot about what's going on with this. So, I'm about to give my completely uneducated opinion. I do it all the time, it's fine.

I don't think this is about unreasonable fear. Sure, there's probably some of that, but these snakes are not native to the Everglades. If they are in fact "taking over" then they could destroy that ecosystem and it's understandable that the people of Florida would have concerns about that. Obviously we don't know how much of what we hear about it is accurate and how much is exaggerated, but still. They don't belong there.

[RobNJ]

They don't belong there.

Bottom line...to any extent large or small, they don't belong there.

[MarkS]

Bottom line...to any extent large or small, they don't belong there.

Real bottom line.... no they DON'T belong there, but this contest will do NOTHING to rectify the situation.

[RobNJ]

but this contest will do NOTHING to rectify the situation.

I don't quite agree that it will do nothing....and it could be a problem that cannot be rectified. Curbing the issue and raising public awareness seem to be the focal points. And if I read correctly, it seems 11 burms have been caught so far with 25-26 days left...that's 11 less than there were last week, which IS actually an improvement(baby steps are still steps). And while possible that people may bring truckloads of burms that they picked up off CL in an effort to win cash prizes, I find that scenario to be highly improbable. And, it's not as if the state of Florida is handing just anybody a machete and a rifle...

[MarkS]

I don't quite agree that it will do nothing....and it could be a problem that cannot be rectified. Curbing the issue and raising public awareness seem to be the focal points. And if I read correctly, it seems 11 burms have been caught so far with 25-26 days left...that's 11 less than there were last week, which IS actually an improvement(baby steps are still steps). And while possible that people may bring truckloads of burms that they picked up off CL in an effort to win cash prizes, I find that scenario to be highly improbable. And, it's not as if the state of Florida is handing just anybody a machete and a rifle...

Well you're certainly entitled to your opinion but to me it sounds like such a poorly thought out idea that I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it didn't end up doing more harm then good.