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Python bounty proposed
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by tigers9 on May 28, 2009
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http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/article1005180.ece
State wildlife officials propose bounty on pythons in Everglades
By Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer
Published Thursday, May 28, 2009
________________________________________
IN THE EVERGLADES — State officials are pushing a plan to put a bounty on the heads of pythons in the Everglades. State wildlife commissioners met with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and got his endorsement to pursue the idea.
"If we can send someone to the moon, we can figure out how to get rid of these snakes,'' said state wildlife Commissioner Ron Bergeron, who gave Salazar, Gov. Charlie Crist, and U.S. Sen Bill Nelson a ride on his airboat Thursday to tour the river of grass.
Crist also endorsed the idea. He said a bounty "may create a positive outcome for this problem.''
Details remain to be worked out as to the amount of the bounty, how it would work. Another wildlife commissioner, Rodney Barreto, offered to put up $10,000 of his own money to get the bounty hunting program started.
Barreto said federal officials have been reluctant to go along with the idea, but Salazar said it has worked out west and he's in favor of pursuing it.
The Burmese python, a non-native species, is considered one of the most damaging species to invade the Everglades, as one of the most elusive. Federal officials estimate there could be more than 150,000 of them throughout the river of grass. Worldwide attention was drawn to the problem in recent years when a park biologist found a python that had died while attempting to swallow an alligator. The pictures captured widespread attention.
Salazar and Nelson got to see a 16-foot python Thursday that park biologists had captured and brought out to show them.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090528/COLUMNIST/905281059/2127?Title=So-when-life-hands-you-a-state-full-of-pythons-
So, when life hands you a state full of pythons ...
By Tom Lyons
Herald-Tribune Columnist
Published: Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 8:10 p.m.
Though wildlife biologist Meg Lowman has sounded the alarm about the invasion of Burmese pythons big enough to swallow tourists, maybe it doesn't have to be a bad thing.
I don't mean the tourist-swallowing part. That is best avoided. I'm against the ingestion of humans by reptiles, and especially by an invasive species that is supposed to live only in Asia, and is basically a 20-foot tube of muscle that can squeeze the life out of any breathing thing it coils around.
There hasn't actually been a fatal python attack in the wilds of Florida, as far as I know. So far, it is alligators that should worry. But Lowman and other biologists think the estimated Everglades population of 30,000 prolific pythons could become 30 million or so, and could inhabit wetlands all over the state, wreaking ecological havoc.
Some tourism promoters worry that people might then be so creeped out by thoughts of being slowly digested in a snake's belly that hikers, kayakers and recreational fishermen would stay away in droves. But isn't it best to see problems as opportunities?
When life gives you big, scary snakes, make snake pie!
Not literally, though I can imagine python steak as a Florida menu item to rival our frequently mispronounced conch fritters and our frequently misunderstood gator balls.
This particularly unwanted species could be a gold mine, because it is recognized as a threat to some of Florida's endangered species. That means killing pythons is good for the natural environment. What could be better?
The creep factor, properly exploited with ad campaigns, could attract far more visitors than it scares away. Some day, I predict, tourists won't want to leave Florida without an eco-tour glimpse of a chilling, gator-strangling invader as it slithers through the water hyacinths and punk trees. But the loathsome python will be even better news for the less mellow nature lovers who want guns and gore to be part of the fun.
Python hunting could rival sunbathing and golf as a tourism draw!
At last, Florida has a creature almost no one wants around, does not have big, soft-brown eyes, and appears as a hissing evil-doer even when it gets a role in a kid's movie. Florida could sell python hunting permits, guilt free! We'd get paid by people delighted to help curb our invasive snake problem, and even my most Bambi-hugging friends couldn't object.
I just hope Florida has enough pythons to keep the dollars pouring in.
Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune
.com or (941) 361-4964.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090527/ARTICLE/905271046/-1/NEWSSITEMAP
Python population expected to explode
AP FILE PHOTO
In the Everglades, site of a dramatic rise in python numbers, biologists placed a transmitter in this 10-foot snake in 2006 and released it, hoping to track its movements and find other snakes for removal.
By DOUG SWORD
Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 10:44 p.m.
There could be more than 2,000 Burmese pythons ranging largely across south Sarasota County within three years unless steps are taken to control the growth of the huge snakes, says a New College of Florida professor.
Related Links:
• Frost events in Myakka State Park decline chart | Map
• Reptile bounty hunters | Map
Key Documents:
• Sarasota County science challenges (PDF - 5685kb)
Click to enlarge
Burmese python
Buy photo
Suggestions, though, that this latest scourge of Mother Nature could harm tourism may be a stretch. After all, this is a state known for alligator and shark attacks -- not to mention hurricanes, mosquitoes and love bugs -- and the tourists still come.
The predicted explosion in the local python population is being made by Meg Lowman, director of environmental initiatives at New College. Lowman ranked pythons as a bigger issue, at least in the near term, than climate change in a report to the county. She and New College are in the final year of a five-year, $250,000 contract to advise the county on science issues.
The odds of running into a python today are pretty low. Four were spotted last year, three along River Road. The assumption is that there are 10 pythons for every one that has been spotted, Lowman said. But pythons lay up to 100 eggs a year and even assuming that more than 60 percent of those do not make it to adulthood, the numbers quickly multiply.
After all, 62 pythons were spotted in the Everglades in 2004 and estimates now put their population at up to 30,000, Lowman said.
Besides decimating the birds that nest near the ground, there would be a "creep factor" for both residents and tourists, said Amy Meese, the county's general manager for natural resources. Meese's budget, which goes before county commissioners next month, could have as much as $50,000 in it to eradicate pythons and other invasive reptiles, mainly iguanas, whose colonies have been spotted this year on Siesta Key.
Pythons could turn into a big negative for economic development, Lowman said. "Perhaps that one is potentially the most damaging to our economy, because I'm not sure that people want to go hiking on trails with hanging pythons."
It would not be the county's first effort to eradicate a troublesome species. Nearly 5,000 wild hogs have been removed, mainly from Carlton and Pinelands reserves, since 2006. The hog program started in the mid-1990s.
One key question that needs to be studied is how much cold a python can stand.
There was only one frost in Myakka River State Park last year, and none at all in 2004 and 2005. In the 1970s, there were three years that frost hit at least 10 times. Warmer winters may be helping the snakes expand their territory.
"Burmese pythons don't like long periods of frost but unfortunately no one's researched exactly what they can tolerate," Lowman said.
The snakes can reach 23 feet in length and weigh 200 pounds. They also eat 200 pounds of food a year, which could wreak havoc with local wildlife, she said.
While these snakes are largely seen as an Everglades problems, there are occasional reports of pythons getting into the East Coast's more urban areas. News reports include a dead python found on a Miami beach and a dead cat found in the belly of a dissected snake.
But the snakes have been in the news a lot lately. There was a spread on the state's python problem in The New Yorker last month. Also last month, the BBC reported a python had pulled a Kenyan man up into a tree; the man avoided becoming a snack by covering the snake's mawing mouth with his shirt. In October, a Virginia Beach woman was found dead of asphyxiation lying in front of a pet python's cage.
Those are unusual cases, though. While big and scary looking, Burmese pythons are typically not aggressive.
"At least we don't have grizzly bears," joked Virginia Haley, president of the Sarasota County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by Cro on May 28, 2009
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Do you think they will give ME credit for coming up with the idea, and pounding it here again and again over the last few years ?
Oh well, the main thing is that a Bounty WILL solve the problem !
And it will cost the State of Florida much less than any other solution, which is a very good thing.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by tigers9 on May 28, 2009
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I just bought me Smith Wesson 50 magnum cal revolver with long 10 inch barrel (long barrel if I want the scope), maybe I need to hunt some pythons with it;-)
Unfortunately the ammo is hard to get nowadays for any guns, and this one likely costs more than the bounty would pay...
Z
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by Cro on May 28, 2009
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Another thing, that I find extremely funny, is the type of folks who are getting paid to advise Florida !
"Wildlife Biologist Meg Lowman ranked pythons as a bigger issue, at least in the near term, than climate change in a report to the county. She and New College are in the final year of a five-year, $250,000 contract to advise the county on science issues."
Sweet job getting a quarter of a million dollars to run your mouth, and spout out statistics with absolutely NO science behind them, LOL !
These nitwhits have a very strange way of doing math.
Let's see, they spotted 62 pythons in the Everglades, and estimate there are 10 pythons out there for every one spotted, SO, 62 x 10 = 620 pythons. Simple math, Except, where is the proof that there are actually 10 pythons out there for every one they see ? But, let's say they are right, then how does the 620 pythons become the 30,000 that they say they have ? And later, they say: "Federal officials estimate there could be more than 150,000 of them throughout the river of grass." (More Government Math ?) And even later, we find: "Lowman and other biologists think the "estimated" (note their admission that they don't have a clue), 30,000 prolific pythons could become 30 million or so, and could inhabit wetlands all over the state, wreaking ecological hovac." Well, assuming a 50 : 50 male to female ratio of pythons, then each female python would have to produce 2000 young to take the population from 30,000 to 30,000,000 ! (Thats 30 Million Pythons, folks !) Hey python breeders, do your females ever produce 2000 young ? Even in a 20 year lifetime ??? OK, somebody PLEASE do not renew this Lowman chick's research grant, and PLEASE do not send your kids to this New College, to major in Biology, or in Math ? I doubt that there are 30 Million Yellow / Everglades / Grey Ratsnakes in Florida, and they have had a lot longer to build up the populations !
As far as the suggestion that the pythons could eat tourists, I hope that happens. Florida has plenty to spare, and it would be fun to see the panic it would cause. I can see the amature footage on UTube ! Grandpa gets eaten by a python ! Yikes !
More fun with Government thinking and math:
"Lowman says the "assumption" (another admission they do not know what the feak they are talking about), is that there are 10 pythons for every one that has been spotted." (Show me the scientific proof, scientist should not work on assumptions, but I guess she is not much of a scientist).
She further states "But pythons lay up to 100 eggs a year, and even assumng that more than 60 % of those do not make it up to adulthood, the nmbers quickly multiply." ( Ok, whats wrong with the math here ?).
Python breeders, you guys get 100 eggs from your pythons a year, don't you ? NOT. Why use what is probably a world record number of python eggs in the equation ? Government math again. The survival rate of pythons in the wild, and the number of eggs produced each year will be much less. That can be backed up with REAL science, from wild population studies of Burmese pythons in Burma.
Oh well, just though I would have some fun with Government Math, and Government Supported Biologists, and poke a little fun at the Florida folks and the python "problem" !
However, no matter how many Burmese pythons there really are in the Everglades, if they set up a Bounty System, as I suggested, it will solve the problem, just as it did in eliminating rattlesnakes, wolves, grizzly bears, and cougars in much of the country.
I suggested a $100.00 per python bounty here numerous times, but if they get some of that Obama money, and put a $500.00 bounty on the snakes, I might have to plan a vacation to Florida to do a bit of Burmese python hunting, LOL. I bet a lot of herpers who frequent this site will do the same !
Sorry friends, I am just in a bit of a irreverent mood.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by Cro on May 28, 2009
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Zuzana, I wish I had known you were in the market for a big wheel gun. I have a one of a kind Ruger Super Blackhawk that was custom made by a Master Gunsmith friend as a prototype many years ago. I have been reluctantly trying to sell it, because I am out of work at the moment.
It is in .44 mag, which means it will also take .44 special. Both of those are a bit easier to find than the .50 cal ammo.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by yoyoing on May 28, 2009
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I have a little Ruger Single Six that is 35 or so years old. The Blackhawk is awesome.
What controls the python population in their natural environment?
Why would Florida offer a bounty when people would pay for the opportunity for the hunt, with guide services and such?
How did the alligator and Indigo snake almost go away if we don't know how to get this problem solved
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by yoyoing on May 28, 2009
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Forgot to mention that in the long run iguanas (the bunnies of the reptile world) may be a more financially devistating problem.
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by Cro on May 28, 2009
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"What controls the python population in their natural environment?"
Same as what will control them here. They are eaten by many other animals, killed on roads, etc.
Only real difference is that humans in Asia can eat them, or turn them into boots, or, sell them to the pet trade.
Here in the states, the Feds had a hands off policy about allowing folks to go into the glades and catch / kill them, all the while they whined about what a big problem they are !
Once a bounty is set up, and folks are allowed to hunt them in the Everglades, we will find that Americans are just as good at killing snakes as Asians are.
Perhaps folks should buy stock in Justin Boot Company ? I have a feeling that a lot of python leather is about to hit the market, LOL.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by yoyoing on May 28, 2009
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Sounds good to me, but as a Floridian I have to ask: why should my tax dollars go to a bounty for snake removal? Obviously, there is a dollar to be had charging for the expoitation of this unnatural resource?
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RE: Python bounty proposed
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by yoyoing on May 28, 2009
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God am I stupid. Florida pays a bounty but gets to keep the snake. We set up the industries to make the real money.
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