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There is some evidence that the "ying-yangs" may not be the only ones responsible for letting them loose. The hurricane that wiped out Homestead may have also released them from the zoo. There were a number of other animals that got loose when the zoo was damaged, and not all the snakes were recovered.
It's not just pythons A couple of months ago, animal planet did a piece on people that were bitten by poisonous snakes. A resident of Miami was working in his back yard and was bitten by a slender green snake. It turned out to be a Green African Mamba. The hope is that it is the only one and will not be able to reproduce.
Pythons, in the wild, seem to be interbreeding as well. A Burmese Python is huge. A Rock Python is very aggressive. Mix the two and you have a very aggressive, huge snake. Again, if you watch Animal Planet, Swamp Wars, you'll be able to see the guys that are always catching pythons around the Miami area.
While they seem to be most heavily concentrated in the southeast part of Florida, they have been found pythons north of Orlando, along the gulf coast areas. Unchecked, they are expected to spread as far north as Tennessee, and eventually all southern states. Currently, snakes kept as pets are required to have microchips. I would hate to have them find a snake, with a microchip registered to me, in the wild. I don't know what the fine is, and I don't expect to find out the hard way. I do not have any snakes.
But, it's not just pythons. There are also Nile Monitor Lizards and a species of rat that grows quite large that have been imported and released. All are considered "invasive".
Burmese and African species interbreeding in the wild to create a 'super-snake' in the Glades is a science fiction story. No one has been able to interbreed them even in controlled enviromnets.
Don't send the homeless - send animal-rights activists. After all, they ar the ones who keep insisting that animals must be treated the same as humans, if not better.
There's even an nice acryonym, all ready to go:
Pythons Eating Tasty Activists
Sounds like a plan?
Yeah, so why are they in Florida and not MN or MA? Derrrrrrp.
I say ship the homeless down to the Everglades---tell them to see how many snakes they can catch or kill and for each one they can cash in for a $500 bounty.
It might get pretty messy, but at the same time, it'll make a pretty crazy horror movie plot some day. I'm thinking Roger Corman--"Hobos vs. Swamp Pythons" in 3D...
Besides the micro chipping of the snakes this is the second best solution
Question kshe, do people who live in Florida consider this python/anaconda issue to be a national disgrace and something to be ashamed of?
No, Floridians dont feel that way at all, I hadnt heard anything of the sort until it popped up in this thread.
We're pi**ed off at the fact that there is no open season on pythons.
I don't have the ability to google if I didn't already know? DUH!!!
I stand by my post. It makes no difference as to whether or not it was a Democrat or Republican as you have to go back decades to find a Republican that places any importance on environmental issues. That is the point!
BTW...Here is the reason Nixon established it...
Quote:
In Spring 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to force this issue onto the national agenda. 20 million Americans demonstrated in different U.S. cities, and it worked!
In December 1970, Congress authorized the creation of a new federal agency to tackle environmental issues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency..
Gaylord Anton Nelson (June 4, 1916 – July 3, 2005) was an American politician from Wisconsin who served as a United States Senator and governor. A Democrat, he was the principal founder of Earth Day.
So we are back to my original post...after Teddy Roosevelt, one is hard pressed to find a Republican that gives rat's butt about the environment.
Last edited by sickofnyc; 02-21-2012 at 09:28 AM..
There is some evidence that the "ying-yangs" may not be the only ones responsible for letting them loose. The hurricane that wiped out Homestead may have also released them from the zoo. There were a number of other animals that got loose when the zoo was damaged, and not all the snakes were recovered.
That was a very informative post. Thanks to all who have knowledge on this subject and have shared it.
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