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MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 01 January 05 Pooch vs. pythons - A beagle is being trained to track giant pythons flourishing in the Glades (Elizabeth Caram)
In the strange-but-true fight against giant pythons that increasingly are roaming the far reaches of the Florida Everglades, park officials have come up with an unlikely weapon: a beagle named Python Pete.
The 6-month-old puppy is being trained to track the snakes that biologists say have invaded Everglades National Park -- discarded pets that have grown to science-fiction proportions.
''These are extraordinary times as the park faces a unique issue. We have to do what it takes to find these pythons,'' said Rick Cook, public affairs officer for the Everglades. 'The hope is that the dog will be able to pick up the snakes' scent.''
The experimental idea came from Lori Oberhofer, an Everglades wildlife technician who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Guam four years ago where a similar program is still used.
Oberhofer brings the puppy to work with her every day, training him for his future snake-tracking duties by using a rag that smells like python.
''Although this has never been tried before in the Everglades, we have great plans for him,'' Oberhofer said.
Park biologist Skip Snow is hopeful that the experiment will turn into the solution the park needs.
''We do not know if Python Pete will be successful. He's still a puppy,'' Snow cautioned.
The problem of giant snakes in the Everglades is becoming more acute because the pythons are now competing with native animals -- including the federally threatened indigo snake -- for food and living space. Burmese pythons, for example, typically grow to about 20 feet.
Already, park-goers have witnessed two headline-making battles between alligators and pythons. The first came in January 2003 when two reptiles engaged in an epic 24-hour battle. The snake finally managed to escape.
Nearly a year later, in February 2004, another snake wasn't as lucky. Park visitors saw an alligator catch one of the large snakes in its mouth and swim away victoriously.
Park biologists want to eradicate the Everglades' python population, euthanizing any that are found.
Daniel Vice, assistant state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, works in Guam with Jack Russell terriers that are used to detect and capture brown tree snakes.
''Studies indicate that a well-trained, experienced dog and handler team can expect to find about 75 percent of the snakes,'' Vice said. ``With appropriate and adequate training and maintenance, this rate of detection is fairly consistent across time and locations.''
Oberhofer, who paid for the dog herself, said she hopes that Pete will be just as productive in the Everglades.
''He is showing lots of potential and has already accomplished what much older dogs are trained to do. And he's still just a 6-month-old puppy,'' she said.
The dog's training sessions generally last 10 minutes, once or twice a day. Inside a plastic container in the corner of Oberhofer's office, a large, mesh laundry bag holds a large python. Pete's favorite rag, checkered and chewed on, is kept in the box, absorbing snake musk.
When it's time to train, Oberhofer puts a special red collar and matching leash on Pete -- a combination used only when it is ''work time.'' She leads him outside to a field with knee-high grass, carrying the mesh bag containing the python and musky rag. Oberhofer gently drags the mesh bag through the grass, creating a 50-foot scent trail for Pete. Then she tells him: ``Find it!''
The puppy's ears perk up and he begins sniffing the grass. He finds the trail, which has been marked by stakes. As a reward when he has tracked the snake, Oberhofer lets himplay tug of war with the musky rag.
''I want Pete to think that this scent means fun,'' she said.
So far, the beagle has been successful in finding the trail each time he has tried, she added.
When he's ready, Oberhofer will take Pete out into the field for the real thing: to hunt for pythons. To keep him from becoming a snake snack, Pete will always be kept on a leash, Oberhofer said.
''If Python Pete turns out to be very successful at finding pythons for us, I would anticipate that we would continue using him and perhaps expand the program and get more dogs,'' she said. ``But that would depend on future funding for the program.''
Pooch vs. pythons

NEWS & OBSERVER (Raleigh, N Carolina) 31 January 05 His dogs sniff out snakes - Researcher to track how much land rare slitherers need (Wade Rawlins)
Few people react like Ron Sutherland when their dog finds a hissing snake in the back yard.
Sutherland praised his young dog Pilot during a sniff-out-the-snake exercise and offered a treat as a doggy down payment on future finds.
Sutherland is training a pair of English pointers to locate rare snakes as part of a doctoral research project at Duke University. Specifically, he wants to quantify how much land rare snakes need to survive. To do that, he needs to identify the number of snakes in a given area. That is where the dogs with their keen sense of smell might help.
"Snakes have always been hard to find, even if you're out looking for them," said Sutherland, 28. "The eventual goal is to be able to turn the dogs loose on any block of habitat and have them find any snakes that are there that day."
Scientists typically use tiny radio transmitters inserted in the snakes to follow their movements. But tracking individual snakes doesn't tell how many are in an area or whether large snakes share territory.
North Carolina has 37 species of snakes, including six that are venomous. Two species are listed as in danger of extinction in the state, and six others are of special concern, meaning they could become endangered.
Some species, such as the northern pine snake, a big, nonvenomous snake found primarily in the Sand Hills, are dying out because North Carolina's once-abundant longleaf pine forests have been cleared for timber and development.
Alvin Braswell, curator of reptiles at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, said that as land gets carved up by roads and subdivisions, snakes frequently get run over by cars or killed by people who don't want them in their back yard. He said Sutherland's research, if successful, would be a benefit to managing declining populations.
"Folks tend not to like rattlesnakes crawling through their yard," Braswell said. "That's understandable. At the same time, it's nice to have large tracts where we can keep some of these animals in nature."
Is 100 acres of forest enough to support a population of northern pine snakes? Five hundred? Scientists don't know, but Sutherland hopes to find out -- with the help of his canine research assistants.
In the back yard of his house in Chapel Hill, Sutherland has dug snake holes. On a sunny winter day, he placed a 2-foot, black-and-white patterned pine snake into a hole beneath a stump then released the dog into the yard.
"Find the snake!" he commanded.
The dog ran around, nose to the ground seeking the familiar scent. After perhaps a minute, the dog stopped in front of the stump and poked his nose tentatively toward the hole, where the snake was hidden. The find earned Pilot a slice of hot dog and praise. Then Sutherland had to reach into the hole and get the snake.
During cold weather, Sutherland mostly has been hiding snakes under boxes or buckets inside the house. He typically hides one at a time. In a small room, the dogs find the reptile quickly. "Pine snakes are big and boisterous and not afraid to strike," Sutherland said.
Sutherland has been bitten a few times by the pine snakes. He compares the bites to a briar scratch.
He is using nonpoisonous snakes to teach the dogs to keep a safe distance. Pilot was bitten on the nose by a black snake early in the training. Sutherland also uses rubber snakes with snake scent.
David Woodward, a snake researcher in N.C. State University's zoology department, lent Sutherland four pine snakes and an eastern kingsnake for training the dogs. While government agencies have used trained dogs to find endangered snakes, it is a novel and as yet unproven approach for scientific research.
"He is trying a new approach to try to answer some of these questions, which is a good thing to do," Woodward said. "Scientists are always looking for new approaches. It really has not had any kind of scientific evaluation."
Sutherland has identified 60 to 70 field sites of varying sizes in southeastern North Carolina to assess the necessary acreage to sustain snake populations. Another variable he'll assess is the density of roads crisscrossing a tract. He wants to acquire scrap sheet metal roofing and put it at the sites so the snakes can hide under it for warmth. The scrap metal could make the snakes easier to find. Starting in the spring, Sutherland plans to begin using the dogs and field volunteers to search the sites.
"If this works out, there are going to be a lot more snake dogs out there," Sutherland said.
His dogs sniff out snakes