A little historical consideration makes it clear that the Florida population of Burmese Pythons can be traced to the early 1970s when the military closed down "Project Squeezer" the top secret CIA study to determine the feasibility of using large pythons to destroy the tunnel complexs being encountered by US forces in Vietman. The idea behind the project was that pythons could be fed eviscerated pig carcasses which had been stuffed with C-4 charges and would then seek shelter inside NVA or VC constructed tunnel complexes where they would penetrate deeply inside the structure before timers detonated the explosives.
This program was funded under a "black" appropriation made to a research unit of the Army Veterinary Corps and involved the importation of several thousand adult molurus from Thailand, the majority of which were landed at Homestead AFB in Fairchild C-114 aircraft after originally being sent out of the USAF base at Takli, Thailand packed in refrigerated conex boxes which had originally contained fresh Florida citrus supplies for the base personnel and were being returned for reshipment. The snakes themselves were purchased by CIA field operatives throughout Thailand, Laos and Cambodia from indigenous peoples who were more than happy to exchange them for weapons and medical supplies. They were then transported to Takli aboard small "Air America" aircraft for export.
In 1971 this program came under scrutiny by Army command staff and was eventually disowned as "The stupidest GD idea that the Spooks have come up with since they tried to kill Fidel with an exploding cigar", as an unnamed General Officer put it, the Army withdrew all support for the program and basically told the CIA they had 30 days to get out of Dodge and take their snakes with them. Undaunted, the CIA operatives in charge of the program attempted to salvage something from the years of effort and loaded the 728 snakes currently in the facility (which was inside a public access forbidden area of ENP where the daily KRUMMPH! of exploding pythons would pass unnoticed) onto a shrimp boat with the intent of transporting them to Cuba where they would be covertly released into the sugar cane fields in the hope of forcing a general strike amongst cane workers in the 1972 harvest year and causing a serious rift in Soviet/Cuban relations.
This ship was crewed by a small cadre of Cuban exiles, under the command of a former Cuban naval ensign, who had somehow managed to avoid deployment during the "Bay of Pigs" invasion and had since been inhabiting a CIA safe house in Coral Gables watching "I love Lucy" reruns and running the A/C on high.
Unfortunately, due to the influence of a strong current, an improperly calibrated compass and a half gallon of Bacardi Dark rum the boats skipper made a slight error in Navigation and what he thought was the SE corner of Cuba was actually the SW tip of the Florida peninsula. Regardless, they bravely fulfilled their mission to the best of their ability and all 727 snakes (minus one that the team leader kept for a pair of boots) slithered dutifully into the night to attain their place in history alongside the Army Air Force's thermite toting bats of WW2 fame and the Navy's limpet mine carrying Dolphins that are still swimming around off San Diego (I'm NOT making this up).
Although it is impossible to verify, rumor has it that a couple of young graduate students who were involved in this project are still employed by the USGS and that part of their research program involves keeping tabs on the errant population of freedom fighting pythons and their efforts to survive so far from the jungles they once called home. In recent years the main thrust of these efforts have been to shift the blame for the introduction of the animals from the CIA unto the shoulders of private reptile hobbyists in the hope that no one will ever realize exactly how f'ed up the government is when it comes to doing anything useful.
I got this information from my step brother who was a USAF air policeman at Takli in 1969 and 70 and frequently spent his evenings drinking Mai Tais with the crew chief of an Air America "Otter" A/C and a Air Force commissary M/SGT who was responsible for delivering the conex containers to the Air America hanger where the snakes were loaded. He later was stationed at HAFB (1974 and 75) where he encountered the erstwhile Cuban shrimp boat commander who was working as a gardener at the base NCO club and was driven to comment on the exquisite Python skin boots that the man wore and ask where he might get a similar pair. The gardener was only too happy to relate exactly what had transpired so many years ago.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Be well all!
Peter
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Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles
