EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - Within seconds, the 16 1/2-foot Burmese python uncoiled and tried to slither off. What happened next is a drama that plays out every week or so....
Now, the snake’s days of squeezing the life out of prey and giving birth to about four dozen babies every year are over....
She was euthanized....
That's a euphemism for murder.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia. No one knows for certain how the snake entered the park. The theories that Hurricane Andrew blew them there from exotic pet shops and houses in 1992, or that numerous pet owners released them when they grew too large, are probably myths, according to Frank J. Mazzotti, a professor of wildlife ecology and conservation for the University of Florida....
Then that is probably the truth if you understand coded newsspeak from the newspaper.
Their population in the Everglades is estimated at anywhere between 5,000 and 100,000 by the US Geological Survey. The National Park Service says that more than 1,800 pythons have been removed from the park and surrounding areas since 2002.
Some game officials and citizens have suggested sending bounty hunters with guns and machetes into the park.
“Someone could tell you there are 10 pythons in this area, and you could walk all day and not see them,’’ said Brian Smith, another biologist.
Pythons prefer warmth, but many in the Everglades have managed to survive hard freezes, leading some biologists to worry about their ability to adapt and travel north. The snake has already been swimming and slithering toward the Florida Keys.
Once pythons are established, trouble seems to follow. A study coauthored by Mazzotti, Kristen Hart, a research ecologist for the US Geological Survey, and other researchers showed that when pythons started to appear in large numbers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, mammals in the southernmost part of the Everglades started to disappear.
For the study, researchers traveled nearly 40,000 miles over 11 years, observing wildlife in the southern area. They found that 99 percent of raccoons, 98 percent of opossums, and about 88 percent of bobcats were gone. Marsh and cottontail rabbits, as well as foxes, could not be found.
Nearly every news report blamed pythons, but the study did not conclude that. It said more research was needed.
Yeah, put all the blame on the snake. Been stereotyped since Biblical times.
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