Burmese Python Hunts With Bounty Proposed Florida state officials are pushing a plan to put a bounty on the Burmese pythons that have invaded the Everglades.
"If we can send someone to the moon, we can figure out how to get rid of these snakes," said Wildlife Commissioner Ron Bergeron.
Another wildlife commissioner, Rodney Barreto, offered to put up $10,000 of his own money to get the program started, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
The Burmese python, a non-native species, is considered one of the most damaging exotics to invade the Everglades, as well as one of the most elusive.
Federal officials estimate there could be more than 150,000 of them slithering through the River of Grass.
Some pythons killed by biologists had deer and bobcats in their stomachs.
But beware -- these are strong snakes. Park biologist Skip Snow brought along a big black box to the tour. Out of it he and two other biologists pulled a 16-foot python that they had captured in the park. It took all three of them to hold it down for Nelson, Salazar and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek to get a good look.
Finding the pythons may be the hardest part of the program. Biologists have captured some pythons and put tiny transmitters in them, then released them back into the wild to try to track down others. They report several instances where they were standing right in the spot where the radio signal says a python should be, yet they could see absolutely nothing.
(What can I say... it's "Floriduh". The states lands and waterways are full of non-native species that people kept as pets then got tired of and released into the wild. These pythons are huge and are all over the place down here. Sooner or later some little kid is going to get swallowed 
)
<message edited by mneptune on Sunday, May 31, 2009 11:02 AM>
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
