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FL bounty stuff
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by tigers9 on July 16, 2009
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Somebody asked a while ago where the practice of cutting snakes head started, well, I guess with veterinarians recommending it is an OK method...?
Z
<<. The participants have decided to use “swift decapitation,” a method suggested for all animals by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Participants will be allowed to keep the python, which they can sell to a skin or meat processor for profit. The sale is the only bounty available for the snakes.
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http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jul/15/governor-crist-calls-action-burmese-pythons-evergl/?partner=yahoo_headlines
State issuing permits to hunt pythons in Everglades
• By WHITNEY BRYEN
• Posted July 15, 2009 at 3:17 p.m. , updated July 15, 2009 at 8:35 p.m.
NAPLES — A new program to control Burmese pythons in the Everglades may lead to a bounty against the exotic snakes.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced Wednesday it selected a group of reptile experts, based on handling experience and professionalism in the industry, to participate in a trial program.
The FWC will issue three-month permits to the experts, allowing them to search out and kill Burmese pythons beginning Friday.
Patricia Behnke, spokeswoman for FWC, said if the temporary program is successful, a permanent bounty would be considered. Details regarding the permanent program will not be determined until results from the temporary program are available.
The program comes on the heels of the death of a 2-year-old Sumter County girl, who was strangled by a pet python in her crib two weeks ago.
In reaction to the girl’s death, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, presented a bill last week that would make importation of Pythons between states illegal.
The FWC and Governor’s have since gotten involved.
The permit will only be given to qualified herpetologists who will be require to record the location, weight, size and stomach contents of the snakes caught. The pythons must be killed on site by the participants but they can not be shot.
The FWC has asked that participants “humanely euthanize” the pythons but did not give a definition for humane euthanization, said Greg Graziani, a private reptile breeder in Venus, who is one of three confirmed participants in the process. The participants have decided to use “swift decapitation,” a method suggested for all animals by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Participants will be allowed to keep the python, which they can sell to a skin or meat processor for profit. The sale is the only bounty available for the snakes.
Graziani said there is not much of an industry for python skin and meat in Florida since no one is really trying to sell the products. He hopes that if the program continues, the industry for python skin and meat will grow, taking some focus away from the native rattlesnake.
A Web site, olx.com, has a listing for a buyer of snake skin and raw materials. The listing is from a buyer in the Philippines with prices varying by size, but has the general price of $50 listed.
Though there are three confirmed participants that will get permits to hunt pythons, there could be up to ten, according to staff at the FWC.
Jason Butler, biologist for a wildlife and animal removal service, said he thinks the open hunt is a good idea but would agree that permits are necessary. Permits would allow the FWC to regulate who can hunt, making it safer.
Butler catches snakes for a living, usually from residential or commercial buildings and releases them back into the wild.
Butler said catching a python during this time of the year could be difficult, but had a tip for the hunters.
“Just stay in the car until you see one,” Butler said. “The snakes like the heat from the roads so they tend to stretch out on the street and are easier to see.”
Graziani and other participants have been working with the FWC on details of the program, which are still being determined.
“We got involved at the last commission meeting when commissioner Barreto asked us about the possibility of doing the hunts,” Graziani said.
Shawn Heflick, President of the Central Florida Herpetological Society and Michael Cole, of Ballroom Pythons South in Tampa Bay confirmed they will participate program.
Heflick said the idea of a controlled hunt for pythons was initiated by the reptile industry long ago but they have received recent criticism for causing the infestation problem.
“A lot of what’s being said about the python problem is laid on the doorsteps of reptile hobbyists, but the genetic data says it was actually caused by Hurricane Andrew,” Heflick said.
Heflick said reptile hobbyists are blamed for the Everglades infestation by abandoning snakes that were once pets. Many pythons escaped during Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which is what Heflick said is the main cause of the current python problem.
One python can lay up to 100 eggs each time it reproduces.
Gabriela Ferraro, communications director for the FWC, said an option previously discussed was to start with a hunting permit open to all those who hold a reptile of concern permit, which is required to own a python or other potentially dangerous reptile. The requirements included strict weapon regulations for killing the Pythons using only a machete.
“I don’t personally want to kill a python,” Butler said, “but I do think the program is necessary.” Butler said these pythons prey on humans in their home of Burma, and it’s only a matter of time before they do the same in the Everglades.
Graziani said killing the snakes is not the ideal situation, but there is no other option. The invasion has endangered native wildlife and is a potential danger to people.
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RE: FL bounty stuff
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by LarryDFishel on July 17, 2009
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<<. The participants have decided to use “swift decapitation,” a method suggested for all animals by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Participants will be allowed to keep the python, which they can sell to a skin or meat processor for profit. The sale is the only bounty available for the snakes.
I don't believe this is accurate. Last time I checked I beleive the AVMA only recommended decapitation AFTER pithing (destroying the brain) for reptiles. I think the idea is to use decapitation as a failsafe in case the pithing is botched (which is probably common).
However, in my opinion (and nothing more than that), decapition is probably the most humane death that we can expect the average hunter to perform correctly and safely, so I personally wouldn't oppose it.
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RE: FL bounty stuff
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by tigers9 on July 17, 2009
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I guess H$U$ predictions were wrong, it is not that hard to find a python...if they r there...
Z
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g557Bdx0gCIw9DZ0PuWBdpTnwqYQD99GE6HO0
1st day of Fla. hunt nets nearly 10-foot python
By BRIAN SKOLOFF (AP) – 40 minutes ago
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A program to eradicate invasive pythons from Florida's Everglades began Friday with a slithering success: Trappers caught a nearly 10-footer within about an hour of setting out, a shock to even the experts.
"It surprised us," said Shawn Heflick, a herpetologist who helped capture the snake Friday. "If you would have told me yesterday I was going to go out there today and that quickly find one, I would have called you a liar."
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced just this week the state would allow a few permitted snake experts to begin hunting, trapping and killing the nonnative pythons in an effort to eradicate them from hundreds of thousands of acres in South Florida.
Gov. Charlie Crist had asked for the program two weeks after a central Florida child was strangled in her bed by a pet python that escaped its enclosure.
The number of pythons in South Florida and throughout Everglades National Park has exploded in the past decade to potentially tens of thousands, though wildlife officials aren't sure exactly how many are slinking around South Florida. Scientists believe pet owners have freed their snakes into the wild once they became too big to keep. They also think some Burmese pythons may have escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing ever since.
Officials say the constrictors can produce up to 100 eggs at a time.
The FWC held a news conference in the Everglades on Friday morning, explaining to anxious reporters that it would be highly unlikely to catch a glimpse of the giant snakes.
Then they climbed aboard several airboats and headed to a hunting camp on a tree island in the wetlands about 30 miles west of downtown Fort Lauderdale.
"We wanted to show everyone the habitat," said FWC spokeswoman Pat Behnke.
The reporters saw more than habitat: They witnessed the first capture in the state's fledgling python hunt program.
"We're walking along a boardwalk and one of the experts looks down, and there's a python!" Behnke said.
One of the experts spotted it slithering from a dense cover area. Heflick, along with another trapper, "jumped on it and hauled it out."
After measuring the snake and collecting data, the trappers severed its brain from its spinal column, he said.
Pythons have no natural predators in Florida, so their populations grow unchecked as they feed on birds, small rodents and other native species, disrupting the ecosystem's natural balance.
The first phase of the hunting program will last several months. Depending on the results, officials may license more trappers.
Earlier this week, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, both from Florida, sought the federal government's blessing for python hunts in the Everglades.
"One down, 99,999 to go," Nelson said Friday after hearing of the python capture.
Nelson also wants Congress to ban importing the snakes.
On Thursday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would expand existing programs and may provide additional funding to eliminate the snakes from the Everglades.
Experts in Everglades National Park have been tracking and capturing pythons for several years. Hundreds have been removed, said park biologist David Hallac.
"Once these snakes are out in the open Everglades, they're very hard to find," Hallac said. "It's a big challenge for Everglades National Park, where we have a million acres of potential habitat."
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