SUN-SENTINEL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 16 December 09 Billboards to fight pythons - New campaign attempts to educate public on the downside of releasing unwanted pets (David Fleshler)

Photo: Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist who is permitted to capture pythons, and Wayne Rassner, volunteer coordinator for Everglades Python Control, show a Burmese python at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' unveiling of their billboard campaign to highlight the problem of releasing invasive animals into the Everglades. (Susan Stocker)

Like bank robbers, drug traffickers and other public enemies, the Burmese python, Nile monitor and sailfin catfish will appear on posters throughout the state as part of a campaign against the release of non-native animals in the wild.

"UN-WANTED in the EVERGLADES," state the ads, which will appear on billboards, bus shelters and other prominent public places. "Help restore the Everglades. Don't let it loose."

The campaign, unveiled Wednesday at a news conference in Davie, will start with 27 billboards and other sites donated as a public service by members of the Florida Outdoor Advertising Association.

Stu Appelbaum, chief of the Everglades division for the Army Corps of Engineers, which held the news conference, said the control of non-native species was as important to the Everglades as the massive replumbing project taking place now to restore some of the original flow of water through the wilderness.

"These species can kill or crowd out our native species," he said.

About 1,000 Burmese pythons have been captured in the Everglades. But although this species has received the most attention, there are other, less eye-catching species that can cause damage.

At Everglades National Park, for example, there are more than 200 non-native plants and 16 non-natives species of fish, said David Hallac, the park's chief of biological resources.

The Nile monitor, a carnivorous lizard that can reach a length of seven feet, will appear on the posters. It has established breeding populations in the Homestead and Cape Coral areas.

Another poster beast will be the sailfin catfish, a South American species that has established itself in Central and South Florida.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (www.myfwc.com), has set up amnesty days and other programs to allow people to surrender unwanted pets, no questions asked.

"By drawing attention to this, we hope to help people find options other than release," said Paul Souza, South Florida field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "The well-intentioned act of letting an animal go free in the wild can have unintended consequences."
Billboards to fight pythons

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