A huge problem is that no one knows how many were there to start with. They are very difficult to find unless they are stretched out across the road. You can literally be looking right at one in the bush and not see it. They will never find the dead ones ever, except by dumb luck or finding bones.

No one has ever admitted that the only absolute known intentional release of a Burmese python were the ones implanted with the tracking device. No one has ever been caught, accused or convicted of deliberately releasing one. Ever. Except scientists. The major concentration fans out from ground zero, which would be the Homestead area where the importers destroyed by hurricane Andrew were located. If pet owners tiring of oversized pets were the reason, there would be releases found in the woods down the block from every college dorm in Florida and wherever these snakes have been sold for pets. Unless we are to believe every “irresponsible” Burmese owner makes the long trek specifically to the everglades to get rid of them. Every one in the country. Truth would seem to be that if it were releases from pet owners, they would be equally released everywhere they have been sold. So either that has not happened, or they can not survive anywhere else. And the survival of the ones in extreme sub-tropical south Florida is pretty slim too.

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