|
1-7 of 7 messages
|
Page 1 of 1
|
|
Pythons pose threat to Everglades, region
|
Reply
|
|
by tigers9 on March 27, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080327/NEWS0105/80327001/1007
March 27, 2008
Pythons pose threat to Everglades, region
Nelson on campaign to lower population
by ryan hiraki
rhiraki@news-press.com
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK — The 8-foot Burmese python hissed and flapped its mouth open, apparently wanting to clamp onto one of the nearby humans who surely was bothering the powerful snake by crowding around it, one a photographer just a few inches away.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., warned everyone about the worst-case scenario, a python killing a small child. And pythons threaten the endangered Florida panther and the rest of the Everglades ecosystem, where the state and federal governments have spent nearly $11 billion trying to restore the polluted wetlands.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” Nelson said Wednesday, standing next to a biologist holding the snake.
Those billions of dollars and that snake — captured Tuesday, leaving thousands slithering in the wild throughout the state — were the reason that Nelson stopped at the Shark Valley Visitor Center in northwest Miami-Dade County, where the Miccosukee Indians make their home, and the rest of civilization seems a million miles away.
Nelson is a staunch supporter of restoring the Everglades, which gets about 1 million visitors a year, and he wants the federal government to put the python on its injurious species list, a designation that would make most breeding and importing of the snake illegal and help prevent it from damaging the national ecosystem.
Pythons cost taxpayers up to $150,000 a year to monitor and control and are part of an invasive species list that has an annual economic impact of $100 billion, according to the National Invasive Species Council, which is part of President Bush’s Cabinet.
“You would be amazed at where pythons can live,” Nelson said. A possible habitat “map goes all the way through the Sun Belt, to California, and up to Sacramento.”
He is fighting to get Congress to appropriate $370 million for restoration this year. Completing the project will cost at least another $19 billion and take another four decades to complete, according to the country’s Government Accountability Office.
The Everglades suffer from neglect after years of growth in Southwest Florida. Car oil, fertilizers and other pollutants have spilled into the Everglades on the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Earlier in the day, Nelson was in the Picayune Strand, about 40 miles west, stumping for restoration.
That includes removing pythons, which came to the U.S. from Southeast Asia.
They first were discovered in the Everglades in the mid-1990s, said Skip Snow, a biologist at the park. And they became famous — or infamous — after a couple of incidents. One involved an alligator carrying a python in its mouth while part of the snake was wrapped around the gator. It was a 30-hour battle. The other was the photo seen in media around the world, of the python that burst open after trying to digest a gator.
Last year, a 9-foot Burmese python was trapped at the Beach Club Apartments on Winkler Avenue Extension in Fort Myers.
“Part of the problem is we don’t give it any forethought if we should bring the snakes into the country, if we should let them out,” said Skip Snow, a biologist at the park.
Adding the python to the injurious species list would make its import into the country or transport over state lines illegal, except for cases of medical research, zoos or exhibits, Snow said.
That’s going to take at least two years, said Paul Souza, a South Florida field supervisor with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
A risk assessment is under way and Souza expects completion of that report in December. Then comes a cost assessment. But the snake is competing with other candidates being petitioned for the injurious species list. A backlog of work has prevented the assessment to be completed on the animal.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife has “just a couple of personnel to go through that list,” Nelson said.
Souza said they understand the urgency.
“We’re ahead of the curve, ahead of more than 90 percent of other species,” he said. “But we need to act now.”
Nearly 300 pythons have been documented in the Everglades area. Either park employees caught them, or alligators and cars killed them, Snow said.
The biggest python ever caught at the park was 16 feet, and the biggest one Snow has caught was 15 1⁄2 feet.
Catching one takes at least a two people, Snow said. One person distracts the snake by touching its tail, while one or two others try to pin the python’s head to the ground, maybe with a branch.
“You want to make sure you can control the first fifth of the body,” Snow said. “Burmese pythons aren’t predators on people, but they can kill people.”
Nelson smiled.
“I’ve done a lot of things as a senator but I am not going to let this thing wrap around me,” he said.
|
| |
|
RE: Pythons pose threat to Everglades, region
|
Reply
|
|
by tigers9 on March 27, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
,snip>Nelson produced a video about python overpopulation and made a map of states threatened by the snakes.
"I've been taking this map to all those senators from those other states trying to get them educated," he said.<snip>
http://www.nbc6.net/news/15715572/detail.html
Fla. Politicians Take Steps To Rid Everglades Of Invasive Pythons
POSTED: 5:35 pm EDT March 26, 2008
UPDATED: 9:38 pm EDT March 26, 2008
EVERGLADES, Fla. -- A Florida senator called for a ban on python imports as the snakes continue to overpopulate the Everglades.
Related Content: Images
The Burmese python threatens to not only overrun the Everglades, but perhaps all of South Florida, as well.
Experts said the snakes likely came from pet owners whose small pythons turned into unmanageable giants and were set free in the swamps.
"They were released in what generally people thought of as wild places to give their animal a place to call home," said National Park Biologist Skip Snow.
However, pythons haven't done well sharing their new home with alligators and other creatures native to the Everglades.
"Right now, I think our No. 1 concern at Everglades National Park is the Burmese python," said Everglades Park representative Dan Kimball.
Kimball's park scientists go out into the Everglades and try to round up pythons, but they're hard to find so the number of pythons found in the park is quickly increasing.
"It's time to get moving on this, get something done," Sen. Bill Nelson said.
Small, endangered animals have already been found inside pythons' stomachs.
"Sooner or later, we've got the threat that they get hold of a panther, one of the most endangered animals in the world," Nelson said.
Federal and state governments are spending billions restoring the Everglades ecosystem. Nelson said that if pythons alter the ecosystem, it won't be money well-spent.
So, scientists are beginning to work on better python traps.
"These can work 24/7 and be everywhere," Snow said.
Nelson said he wants a ban on python imports and interstate sales, but Fish and Wildlife regulations take years to go through.
"It could be as long as seven (years), so you've got a problem completely out of control," Snow said.
"Realistically, a couple of years is about the minimum, assuming you could grease the skids and move the process forward as fast as possible," said Paul Souza of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Nelson produced a video about python overpopulation and made a map of states threatened by the snakes.
"I've been taking this map to all those senators from those other states trying to get them educated," he said.
Nelson and park rangers said they also want to educate pet owners not to set their animals loose in the Everglades. They should contact their local pet store or park service, Nelson said.
Anyone with an unwanted python has a place to take it. Click here to find out where to take nuisance and unwanted pets.
|
| |
|
RE: Pythons pose threat to Everglades, region
|
Reply
|
|
by tigers9 on March 27, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
lady from REXANO elsist asked thsi question:
<<Probably won't be a well received idea but why couldn't they set a bounty on wild caught burmese pythons and have snakeskin boot manufacturers pay for them? If they are a nuisance, like coyotes in some areas, they pay to have them removed without all the millions of $ and hoopla. If people 'catch' their own snakes rather than turning them loose wouldn't that also be a plus? Those that want to keep them responsibly will anyway even if they offer a large amount.
JMO
Amy
>>
|
| |
|
RE: Pythons pose threat to Everglades, region
|
Reply
|
|
by Cro on March 27, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Actually, I recommended a bounty of Burmese Pythons long ago. It is a very good idea. It would solve this fake "problem" very quickly.
Just pay a bounty of $100.00 per python, and put a lot of out of work Miccosukee Indians to work. Have them buy a liscense, just like for Alligator hunts.
Lets say there are 5000 Burmese Pythons in the Everglades (not likely at all) , X $100.00 per snake, = $50,000.00 and the problem is solved!
Not only will all of the Burmese Pythons in the Glades be gone, but so will all of the $20.00 to $30.00 Pythons in petshops all accross the southeast.
Bounties have been used to exterminate Wolves, Rattlesnakes, Foxes, Hawks and Eagles, Cougars, Grizzly Bears.... There is a rich history of bounties killing off unwanted wildlife in this country.
That way, the grandstanding poletitions like this clown Bill Nelson won't have to trek to the Glades, and USFWS "scientists" like these clowns Paul Souza and Skip Snow will not have to fret about the 300 burmese pythons that have been found in the Glades (again I wonder why other types of pythons and non-native snakes are not found in numbers in the glades), and these clown will not have to run around "trying to get them educated" as Snow said about the Senators and his maps of states threatened by the snakes.
It is not surprising that USFWS "scientists" are sellouts, and produce false information. I saw this first hand when a USFWS biologist helped get the very restrictive GA State Reptile Laws passed back in the late 1970's. This turtle loving clown supplied a lot of false information to the GA DNR to help support very poor laws.
These USFWS folks can't even keep their story straight. In the same sentence they say "the number of pythons found in the park is quickly increasing," and they say "park scientists go out into the Everglades and try to round up pythons, but they're hard to find." Well, which is it Skippy? If they are quickly incresing, they why are they hard to find?????
Skippy must not be the brightest bulb ever hired by USFWS ?
Hire the Miccosukee Indians! These brave and resilient people will take care of the python "problem" in no time. They have respected the Glades for hundreds of years. They have watched while the worthless Army Corpes of Engineers and big business raped the Everglades. Put a $100.00 Bounty on Burmese Pythons, grandstanding poletitions, and USFWS scientists who don't care about facts, for that matter, and help make this a better Country !
Best Regards JohnZ
|
| |
|
RE: Pythons pose threat to Everglades, region
|
Reply
|
|
by AmyRinOH on March 27, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Thanks JohnZ, your reply made me subscribe to learn more about it- hope you don't mind questions or just pointing me in the direction to find answers. I don't understand why a common sense (and much less $$) approach is ignored and what anyone can do to change it. If you have a one page synopsis handy that would be great, above and beyond- but I'm more than willing to look for myself in more than one place.
Thanks again
Amy
|
| |
|
RE: Pythons pose threat to Everglades, region
|
Reply
|
|
by GREGLONGHURST on March 28, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
I contacted Skip Snow a couple of years ago & told him I could get a dozen or more people to help catch some of those snakes in the Park. No response. Wish you luck getting them to put a bounty on the snakes.
~~Greg~~
|
| |
|
RE: Pythons pose threat to Everglades, region
|
Reply
|
|
by Cro on March 28, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
A bounty on the snakes is too simple and too effective for government folks.
While it would solve the problem simply and easily, it would make them look to be the fools they are, so they will probably not ever do it.
They would rather run around "educating" the Senators in Florida to the danger from the proposed python maps.
And they would rather spend millions solving a "problem" that should cost thousands.
That Clown Senator Nelson made some lame statement about how one of the Burmese Pythons might kill and eat a Florida Panther, and how Panthers were Endangered. What is he going to propose to prevent the road kill of 4 to 7 Florida Panthers each year on Alligator Alley and Tammiami Trail due to cars ???? Are they gonna put up a fense to keep the kity cats off of the road ????
This guy is a scum bucket grand-standing Senator that you Florida folks should not ever re-elect to political office. Replace him with someone with the mentality that is better than a fense post.............
Hope you folks in Florida are listning. It is up to you to fix this.
Best Regards JohnZ
Not sure if Jeb Bush is still Governer of Florida or not, but that State needs a Governer with some Kahonees that will stand up to all this BS...................
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
