The story is bizarre to you probably because, like most of us, you are honest, and you presume logic and reason are the driving forces behind all of this. I don't think they are.



All the circumstancial evidence points to the cause of the breeding python population being Hurricane Andrew. I guess the evidence is so strong that now even those who blamed irresponsible python owners are changing their tune???



To add to what you said, also large pythons will eat baby hogs.

This is just one tiny, tiny piece of complex ecosystems. I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I still don't understand why it's almost universally accepted the pythons are an environmental catastrophe to the Everglades. I'm not recommending anyone release his/her non-native animal, I'm simply saying I've seen no sound evidence the pythons are creating a problem at all. They might be, but if we are going to speculate, we can just as easily speculate they help local fauna since they eat feral cats, hogs, rabbits, etc. And they also can be a food source for many indigenous animals.



The fact that the infamous range map was released and promoted BEFORE ANY ATTEMPT was made to gather any supporting empirical data speaks volumes. Why cause such hysteria with a theoretical map when a simple experiment could disprove the theory? The fact is, there is plenty of empirical data to disprove the theory. How many thousands of Burms have died because owners accidentally or ignorantly allowed temperatures to dip below 65 degress or so?



Thanks,

Ed



>>My wife and I have been watching this story for a while. The way the whole thing has unfolded has been rather bizarre to us. First they blame owners for the release of the burmese. Now they blame hurricane Andrew. That sounds like a move to say oh we were wrong. Granted I'm sure that some owners have released into the wild their unwanted reptiles. That is not a good thing to do to say the least. We have went from a study that shows these snakes to "invade" as far north as a bit of Washington state I believe, to one that shows lots less coverage area. Disproving the USGS. Now we have a study that is in process in North Carolina. To see if these snakes can survive up there. I don't understand how they think that a tropical species will survive in an area that recieves snow, freezes, and may even touch on a negative temperature range during the winter. I'm not that familiar with the climate activities occuring within the burmese pythons native habitat, but I doubt that it freezes there, or if it does, that it is not very often. There are a few things that they are forgetting when scaring the general public with the oh so aggresive and killer burmese python. One. I know that a burmese will kill and eat pigs. What about the Russian hogs that are found frequently in the southeastern parts of our country? Would they and pigs in general not kill and eat smaller burmese? A large burmese may be a little more tough for a hog to manage. 2. Have tthey not already been microchipping the ones they caught and released back into the Glades? Would they not have a way to track movement into a more northern area? I don't know percentages tagged, but it would be one way to tell. 3. Last but not least. Everyone knows the hazards that come with a snake crossing the highway or being found in someones back yard in rural areas of the south. I don't want to get into a gun control issue here, but a large percentage of hunters and other families own firearms in rural areas. That combined with vehicle damage to a snake population and the aformentioned Russian hog would be detrimental to these snakes. Those are just some factors I can come up with.

>>

>>One question I know is a recurring one. If you can catch, tag and relase these animals in the Glades, and also remove them from residential areas, then why can't you ship them back to their native habitat over seas, and or offer the smaller ones up to the breeders and keepers who would be responsible and make sure that they were well looked after?

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>>Permitting animals is a good way to assure responsibility, but a lot of places are disorganized because they don't have the knowledge required to make the correct decisions in the governing body of the state or locality. Things are going well with some outside help in other places, but permitting should be a thought in many more areas. And don't try to rape the keeper with cost either. Pricing should be fair to everyone and should also perhaps even be offered at a discount for multiple permit owners.

>>

>>It makes sense to me. I hope it makes sense to everyone else. I hope I did not mess up too bad on any of the information listed above. Guess it was just my rant for the day.

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