The ENP is so polluted that animals can't help but die. Read some of these articals. The links should all be in blue. Most people don't even pay attention to this stuff. But if native wildlife can't have a healthy envirnment, how can they survive?

Everglades Pollution Case Heads To Court
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/southflorida/news/pollution2004.html

I can't believe this stuff, I thought the burms were killing everything.

Pollution Still Threatens Everglades

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/FISH/southflorida/news/still2007.html

REDUCED RUNOFF FROM FARMS, YARDS
SLOWS SPREAD OF CATTAILS IN EVERGLADES

http://www.everglades.org/cattails.html

Pollution Poses Growing Threat To Everglades

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/17/us/pollution-poses-growing-threat-to-everglades.html?pagewanted=1

Here is where the state is delaying water cleanup, very recent.

Fla.: Delay Everglades pollution crackdown

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/12/03/Fla-Delay-Everglades-pollution-crackdown/UPI-51921259879246/

I know what is causing all of the pollution, IT'S BURM POOP.

Federal Judge Orders State to Reduce Pollution into Everglades

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/005/federal_judge_orders_state_to_reduce_pollution_into_everglades.html

Constitutional Amendment, Everglades Water Pollution

http://myfloridalegal.com/ago.nsf/Opinions/9083F168C353A721852563F600673D09

Florida Everglades

http://www.whoseflorida.com/everglades.htm

Time Magazine writer discusses Everglades pollution, restoration This is recent

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091104/articles/911041019?Title=Time-Magazine-writer-discusses-Everglades-pollution-restoration

Florida Everglades
4. What types of environmental threats does the region face?

Over the last century the Everglades have shrunk to less than half their original size as agricultural and residential development in the region (and, in turn, irrigation and flood control demands) have expanded. The process has been accelerated over the last 30 years by the growth of the sugar industry and skyrocketing development of Florida's east coast. Moreover, water is diverted from and sometimes to the Everglades as the needs of these adjacent residential and agricultural uses dictate. Accordingly, the ecological balance of the area has been thrown off, resulting in habitat and biodiversity loss. (Studies indicate that the region's wading bird population has decreased by 90 percent or more over the last several decades, indicating a sharp drop in ecosystem health.) Populations of wildlife found nowhere else in the world, such as the Cape Sable seaside sparrow and Florida panther, have been decimated.

Still more habitat destruction in the Everglades is being caused by invasions of exotic plants, such as Australian melaleuca, which deplete the region's water resources and squeeze out the native species on which the rest of the ecosystem depends.

Additionally, polluted runoff from nearby sugarcane and other agricultural operations as well as encroaching urban sprawl significantly alters the Everglades' complex and unique water chemistry. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus added by human activities cause profound imbalances in the Everglades water chemistry, disrupting native plant communities and altering wildlife habitat.

Everglades National Park, including Florida Bay, is seriously threatened by the water management practices of the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District. Under the current regime, western portions of the Park experience harmful, prolonged periods of inundation while eastern portions of the Park are too dry. Because of a disruption in freshwater flows, Florida Bay, the nursery ground for a number of valuable commercial species, is experiencing massive algae blooms and a general decline in productivity.

http://www.nrdc.org/water/conservation/qever.asp

Toxic Mercury at home in the Florida Everglades

http://www.floridaenvironment.com/programs/fe00313.htm

This stuff can go on forever. Fact is, man is to blame for all of the problems with the ENP, not the burms. I thought one of the links talked about the irigation canals. I have walked many of the irrigation canals in South Florida. I can tell you that these canals run North and South, and East and West. They run in those directions for miles and miles, and I mean miles. I am sure all the canals combined would be hundreds if not thousnads of miles when added up. These canals were put in to drain the water so the land could be built on.

Burms are not the problem, it's all the toxin's, loss of habitat, and plain ol human stupidity.

It's a real shame that the reptile community is being blamed for the loss of wildlife. What's next, dog's and cat's being blaimed for global warming?

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