Money Python: Florida Contest Offers Rewards In 2013 Everglades Python Hunt 132
Press2ToContinue writes "Dubbed the Python Challenge, the month-long contest will award $1,000 for the longest python and $1,500 for the most pythons caught between Jan. 12 and Feb. 10 in any of four hunting areas north of Everglades National Park and at the Big Cypress National Preserve. Pythons have been spreading through the Everglades for years, posing a threat to the sensitive ecosystem by preying on native species. Some estimates put their number in the tens of thousands. Last year, 272 pythons were removed from the wild, state figures show."
Cobra effect (Score:5, Informative)
Pythons are so incredibly awesome. (Score:5, Informative)
They're sort of... living legends... An alpha release snake.
Later species are much more streamlined, and have dropped some of their dual organs to make room. (Newer snakes only have one lung, for example. well - they usually have a second joke-sized vestigial lung as well). Fat snakes like pythons and boas have two, still.
Another neat thing about pythons is they have little.. claw like things, near their exhaust pipe. Remnants of their hind legs. :)
Reptiles lost in time...
I understand why they have to go in Florida (which seems hopeless at this point, anyhow), though.
The first time I saw a Burmese Python (like those in Florida) in person I was just amazed at the size of the thing... A snake that weighs more than me.
Re:Bounty on snake heads is the solution. (Score:5, Informative)
Making it legal to sell snake meat would help too.
Yeah, but before you chow down on some snake, read the Florida Fish and Wildlife site: http://myfwc.com/license/wildlife/nonnative-species/python-permit-program/ [myfwc.com]
"Permit holders may sell the hide and meat, thus providing a type of compensation (note: Burmese pythons from Everglades National Park have been found to have very high levels of mercury and may not be recommended for human consumption)."
Re:Pythons are so incredibly awesome. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Cobra effect (Score:3, Informative)
Bounties don't always fail; according to my grandfather there used to be all kinds of rattle snake dens, but a bounty on rattlesnakes earlier in the century essentially wiped them out. I think the trick was that the bounties were handled at the township level, and thus it ended up being mostly locals hunting snakes part-time or on weekends. Some random asshat walking in every day with a truckload of snakes would have been figured out pretty quick Plus the local farmers wanted the things dead to make the area safer anyway, so the bounty served more as a way to get people out the door and actually do something about the problem.
I should qualify these were native snakes, and the terrain was a little more forgiving than I imagine the everglades is. And to finish the story, in the last handful of years our local conservationists had the bright idea to try re-introducing rattlesnakes in the wild. I guess rattlesnakes must be more fun to have around when you don't have to constantly be afraid that the next piece of wood or bale of hay you move is going to reveal an angry poisonous reptile.