[ad_1]
A 17-foot Burmese python found in the Big Cypress National Preserve in the Florida Everglades weighed 140 pounds and was to be carried by four people.
What could have been even more annoying (for ecologists, anyway) was that it contained 73 eggs in development.
This is because the Burmese python, as its name suggests, is a non-native Florida species considered invasive and detrimental to the ecology of the region. Reserve researchers, as they did with other female pythons, euthanized the huge snake and destroyed the eggs.
"She is the biggest python ever removed from the Big Cypress National Reserve – and she was surprised because of research and a new approach to python research," said the reserve on Facebook at the end last week.
The researchers found the snake using male pythons with radio transmitters to locate breeding females.
"The team followed one of the sentinel men with the transmitter and found this massive female nearby," said the reserve on Facebook.
"I wish we could eradicate this species, but I think they are well established," said Cheryl Millett, head of the Tiger Creek Nature Conservation Reserve in central Florida, who led a "Python Patrol" program to try to control the snake population. "One of the problems with Burmese python is that it is an invasive species that interferes with the natural functioning of the system. That's why we try to eradicate it. "
This led the python to threaten the biodiversity of the Everglades. The mammal and bird populations of the Everglades began to decline as pythons began to proliferate in the region, according to a 2012 article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
With expert level concealment skills, Burmese python is hard to find and therefore difficult to eliminate.
"We tried to use python detector dogs," Ms. Millett said of an experiment conducted by Nature Conservancy. The dogs helped, but they needed handlers and the training made the program too expensive.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has several programs to encourage people to come forward when they see a Burmese python and train the public to capture them.
The training begins with a class discussion followed by a demonstration, and then the trainees practice catching live Burmese pythons, according to Ms. Millett.
"We encourage them to catch snakes if they are trained," she said.
"We do all kinds of things," said Carol Lyn Parrish, a spokeswoman for the conservation commission, who now runs the Python Patrol program.
She added that the agency had programs in place for subcontractors to catch pythons, as well as training in snake capture and cash rewards for their return.
"We have been actively trying to educate and remove pythons for more than five years," she said, adding that "for the moment, they are considered a conditional species in the state, which means that they can not be sold or bought in Florida.
But this is not the case in other states. In Louisiana, for example, people are is authorized to have a Burmese python as a pet or to sell one as long as it has obtained the appropriate permits and licenses, even if the Burmese python was banned by the United States Government in 2012.
Lexin Vincent, 20, of Louisiana, is the owner of a Burmese Burmese python four and a half feet, named Bernice, after paying a breeder $ 300 for her.
"In Louisiana, they come to check the cages, the house and everything else," said Mr. Vincent about the process of obtaining a license for a Burmese python in the state. "People do not realize how important it is to keep a detail of a given size."
Mr. Vincent said that he was ready for that when Bernice reached eight meters long and was strong enough to strangle a human.
"I feed his rats for the moment, but I should eventually evolve into hens and pigs with natural deformities," said Vincent. "The risk is worth it."
[ad_2]
Source link