16 Ft Burmese Killed in Everglades

Originally Posted by mld

Did they shot this snake while it was in the tree?

it was found on a tree island, an area of habitat in the Everglades that is just a type of island....doubtful a snake digesting that big of a meal would have been able to make it up into a tree.

Maybe it broke deer hunting laws

Population controll. What else arethey to do with ot. Its an invasive species...sucks, but yes open game on them and iggys in flordia. Id go down there and hunt. Heck you can sell the hide from the snake and eat the iggy.

Yeah..and not many people are willing to take in an adult, untame, wild caught burmese python. I know some of the babies that are caught are getting homes, but very few adults are wanted. They can't stay there... Something's gotta happen. At least many of them are studied so that it is known what they eat and how much--putting to rest those rumors of a single burm killing a whole neighborhood of pets in a week, etc...

Mooglebass, you said exactly what I was going to. They are open game down there, no seasonal limit and hunting permits are practically given away.

Jabberwocky, I actually like PYTHON HUNTERS. It is one of the more informative shows around and they do at least attempt to teach fact in place of fiction and myth. It helps that they are all snake people.

I love the python hunters too! They really do care! They have mentioned it is a SERIOUS uphill battle in regards to editing the show(A few of those battles they have lost too, having to let the show make it seem like they have caught more snakes than they did. One season Shawn mentioned they only caught ONE snake..but they had to make it seem like it was dozens. They claim they are trying to not let that happen again!)

they want to be a positive message for the reptile community! I talked to Shawn on facebook. He's a cool guy!

Originally Posted by Iggysmommie

Huh "Man eating Python" I swear wasnt that myth debunked a long time ago? I mean yeah if you dont care for them right some not all can crush a man but they dont eat them. This is why "normal" people look at us funny, to much bad info on these poor guys. I feel for all those poor snakes. I also believe that most of the glade snakes were found to have gotten loose after hurricanes and that not many were contributed to owner release.

there are a few species with documented histories of eating (or attempting) to eat a human being. There is actually a picture of a retic eating a human, but our broad shoulders present a unique challenge to something that normally eats it's prey headfirst. Many snakes get stuck if they make a head first attempt on a human.

I'll comment on the source of the article too - as they are putting so much unnecessary spin in their (man-eating) and the whole paragraph about hypertrophy in cells. unrelated. Just creating drama. I know the story happened - I have seen it from other sources, and it is not in the least surprising.

there is a TON of horribly incorrect information, as has already been pointed out, many of these burms are descendent from lines that were introduced when hurricanes destroyed exotics warehouses a decade earlier!

Dragoness, you said a lot of what I was going to. I find it fascinating that the idea that the burms are captives released even though I've never seen or heard of them catching an albino. You'd think, with these hordes of Floridians releasing their captives, that they'd find an albino or two among the apparent army of boids, given the popularity of albinos.

And yeesh the spin on this article. Animal articles with the phrase "man eating" in them should probably just disappear forever, because there's no way it means an accurate, truthful article.

I think I'll adress the article as seperate from the snake, so to speak. The article , to me at least, seemed to be a standard load of media horse****. Someone was desperate for a story. As for the wild populations of Burms and other invasive species, they have to do something with the hundreds(or likely thousands) of these animals that are out there. Hunting is a viable option for population control, always has been. As someone said, how many people are there that could or even would take such a large and completely wild snake? The government has to take care of this somehow, and they will always go with the cheapest method at thier disposal. If they want to pay me a decent salary, I'll happily move down there and work for them doing live catches(I'm not holding my breath).