Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ernie Eison
WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.
The master plan

Game on: Crist orders python purge
by Dara Kam | July 15th, 2009

A python posse armed with clubs and machetes will start combing the Everglades for the supersized serpents this weekend.

Gov. Charlie Crist ordered the python bounty hunt Wednesday at the urging of two Florida congressmen who were in an uproar after one of the exotic snakes strangled a 2-year-old girl July 1 near Ocala.

That python was a pet and didn’t live in the Everglades. But the case called new attention to the plague of the oversized reptiles that have spread throughout South Florida’s marshes, gobbling wading birds and posing a danger to native wildlife.

Estimates of the python population in the Everglades range between 10,000 and 150,000. They can reach up to 20 feet in length and have long, curved teeth, along with the ability to squeeze their prey to death.

At Crist’s command, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has signed up three snake experts to begin the python purge in selected locations south of Lake Okeechobee. They include state-managed portions of the Everglades, along with the Holey Land and Rotenberger wildlife management areas in far western Palm Beach County.

Hunting is not permitted in Everglades National Park, where tens of thousands of pythons have invaded, but Crist has allowed the snake safari on adjacent state Everglades marshes.

Two caveats, however: The state is not yet asking for more volunteers. And the snake searchers cannot use firearms, explosives or traps to kill their quarry. They’ll have to use “hand-held instruments,” said wildlife commission spokeswoman Pat Behnke.

“You can maybe guess that some of them might be a club or a machete,” Behnke said.

Crist issued the order to commission Chairman Rodney Barreto after U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson stepped up demands that something be done about the pestilent pythons. Nelson filed a bill in February that would ban the import and interstate sale of any pythons, including the Burmese, which can reach up to 15 feet in length.

Nelson, a Democrat, asked U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday to organize the snake hunt. U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, joined the crusade later in the day.

On Wednesday, Crist stepped in and ordered the posse to begin work on Friday.

The state’s three handpicked herpetologists have their work cut out for them, Behnke said. Snakes are inactive during the hot summer months and the safari likely will be conducted at night, she said. The posse will be allowed to take along up to five assistants each.

State wildlife experts have a Pied Piper-like plan in which they hope to drive the pythons north of the Everglades, where they would pose less of an ecological hazard. They’ll sign up three or four more snake experts to join the team and gather data on the snakes before killing them during the next three months.

After that, they will likely open the bountyhunting to other professionals, Behnke said.

Snake expert Greg Longhurst of Loxahatchee said pythons longer than 10 feet should be handled by at least two people. And he warned that even though the pythons aren’t venomous, “a bite is not going to be pain-free.”

Even animal rights activists aren’t feeling creepy about the searchand-destroy mission.

“We understand that the pythons are a serious problem in the Florida Everglades,” said Animal Rights Foundation of Florida spokesman Nick Atwood.

Professionals should know how to club the snakes to death humanely, Atwood said.

“But the last thing we want to see is a bounty or some sort of open season on these animals where members of the public will be going into open areas and killing everything that they find,” he said.

Ernie Eison
WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.

Just got a an email from USARK on the hunt. They were instrumental in organizing it and members are among those chosen to lead teams to perform the hunt. I say Bravo and will gladly offer my time to help in these hunts if needed.

I am glad its being done by those who actually know snakes not some mob drooling to kill all snakes.

Wilmington, NC July 16, 2009- The United States Association of Reptile
Keepers (USARK) supports a bounty on Burmese Pythons. Florida Fish &
Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has been working very closely
with key reptile experts in Florida to develop and implement a pilot
program for permitting a select group of 20 Florida reptile experts to
participate in a trial program that will allow permitted experts to hunt
Burmese Pythons on FWC and South Florida Water Management District
(SFWMD) areas. All participants must possess a valid Florida Reptiles of
Concern permit and meet criteria laid down by FWC. Each Burmese Hunt
Permittee will be allowed 5 additional hunters to accompany them into
the field. Permitted individuals must carry GPS units and digital
cameras, and supply data to FWC within 36 hours of capture. They will
also be required to attempt to capture any other non-native species they
come across during their hunts and call for permission from land
managers into restricted areas before going into the field. Permitted
individuals are free to take the specimens or euthanize them on site at
their discretion.

FWC has worked very hard to step up and develop this program. They have
worked very closely with the Florida Reptile Community in the
development of this permit/program, and are eager to be part of the
solution to this problem. Florida reptile experts spear-heading this
effort with FWC are Shawn K. Heflick, Greg Graziani and Michael Cole.

The United States Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) supports and
applauds this effort by FWC and the Florida Reptile Community in taking
concrete pragmatic steps in addressing the issue of feral Burmese
Pythons in South Florida. USARK supports Senator Bill Nelson's call for
the US Dept. of Interior to open federal land where the epicenter of the
population resides and is encouraging that this pilot program be
considered as a model for a Federal Bounty Program. In a letter dated
June 17, 2009 to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar USARK pledged $10,000
to this proposal.

USARK President Andrew Wyatt added, "It is time all interested
stakeholders work together to address this issue. The reptile community
has been unjustly cast as the villain being accused as the source of the
introduction of Burmese Pythons, when a genetics study commissioned by
SFWD points away from this likelihood. We are not the source, but we
want to be part of the solution; and we are putting our money where our
mouth is. We have more expertise with Burmese Pythons than all other
stakeholders combined and now we are bringing this expertise to bear in
addressing this problem in South Florida."

USARK is a science and education based advocacy for the responsible
private ownership of, and trade in reptiles. We endorse caging
standards, sound husbandry, escape prevention protocols, and an
integrated approach to vital conservation issues. Our goal is to
facilitate cooperation between government agencies, the scientific
community, and the private sector in order to produce policy proposals
that will effectively address important husbandry and conservation
issues. The health of these animals, public safety, and maintaining
ecological integrity are our primary concerns

Is there going to be a list of the 20 people given permits? I myself don't want to get a permit due to possible time restraints. I do possess a FL Venomous reptiles permit and All Reptiles of concern permits. I would be interested in going along with one of the permit holders to assist in the capture of these animals. I have caught a few wild burms and have experience with larger boids.
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John Light