Pythons Pose Slithery Threat to Everglades

(CBS)  Hunters in the Florida Everglades look for a snake in the grass, but it's not just any snake. Instead, their target is a giant predator with a knack for disguise, the Burmese python.

"You can be two feet away from one coiled up and not notice it until the animal moves," Greg Graziani told CBS News Correspondent Kelly Cobiella.

Snake experts have been stalking and snagging the animals from Florida swamps for four months, an experiment to control a population that is exploding and expanding even to backyards.

Estimates put the Burmese python's numbers as high as 100,000. One snake can lay a hundred eggs every three months. They shy away from people, but an adult will strangle and swallow anything in the Everglades. The problem is nothing preys on it.

Out here in the Everglades the Burmese python can grow to 20 feet or more. It's the biggest example of a much broader problem: invasive species thriving in places they don't belong.

From A to Z - Asian carp jumping onto boats in the Midwest, zebra mussels clogging pipelines in America's rivers - more than 50,000 invasive species have taken root in the United States. Experts say they could cost up to $150 billion every year.

"We end up dealing with productivity losses, perhaps in some cases ecosystem losses," David Moorhead of the University of Georgia's Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health told Cobiella.

It's a side effect of global trade. Species hitchhike on transoceanic cargo ships and on produce-crossing borders. Another culprit: pet owners who decide their exotic friends are too much to handle.

The United States lags behind other countries in regulating invasive species, so states and counties do what they can.

In Florida's backyard the python season just ended. Fifteen licensed hunters caught 37 snakes. Hardly a success. Yet - a consolation for hunters - they're free to sell the skin and the meat. At a market in Boston, a pound of python goes for $35.

"You really want to be very careful preparing it as it has a delicate nature," Juliana Kolson-Lyman, the market's general manager, told Cobiella.

There may be more for the taking next year. Scientists fear another big snake is spreading through the swamp, the African python. It's just as big with a nasty temper.

[excoachken]

And I thought this was about a new Monty Python routine, how disappointing.

[AnnieDanny]

You can't eat python meat: it's too full of mercury. Nobody here in Florida is making any effort to keep the meat. It's not safe. The theory is, python is at the top of the food chain so that's why there's more mercury in it. The big fish eats the little fish and the little fish eats the little little fish... etc. Each creature has some mercury in it, and because python is at the top end of the food chain, they have a higher accumulation of mercury. That's what I was told. Of course, mercury levels can vary I suppose. But nobody here is eating python burgers, that I know of.

[rfague]

Damned illegal immigrants, now they're slithering in!

And who's looking into flying squirrels? Bet they give rides, for a price.

To hell with a border wall, let's build a dome!

[ToolMangler1]

take the capture Pythons and dump them in the 'Rio Grande'. This way, one immigrant might help us get rid of the other. Either that, or turn loose the illegal immigrants in the everglades with the mandate, get rid of the pythons and you can stay.

[pythonjim]

i know it might be a laughing matter to you but the fact is the media will tell you anything that sounds sellable. for example, pythons lay 1oo eggs every 3 months: this is ********, they lay from 10 to 100 every year! and they do have predators.for example birds, birds probably gobble up as much as 90% of the offspring within the first 3 months of their lives.100,000 thousand pythons and all the hunters could find were 39 over how many months? the media is full of ****!

[itgranny]

I can't believe they are making the hunters get a license to hunt them. I'd say if you find one, kill it! it doesn't belong here.

[AnnieDanny]

I think the license is a good idea... that way there's some control over who goes out there to hunt. Otherwise it would be a free-for-all because the bounty is pretty high (I heard it was $5000 each, I don't know if that's true.) There's less chance of people getting hurt this way. Also, they're not shooting the snakes. It's too easy to miss. They catch it first, then kill it. I heard they have a specific method for killing them that ensures very little suffering for the snake.

[John_Merritt]

Is this story back on the boards AGAIN? We talked about it in August and September, and now in November. Yes we have a problem with the pythons in the everglades. They've already had hunts and went out and could not find that many to shoot. So is that a problem, or is it media trying to create stories again? Or is the State trying to recruit hunters to make another run again?

[mike18881]

$35 a pound? I must try it, if I had $35 to spare. GOD BLESS.

[thesevenveils]

$35 a pound for "trash" meat! those Yankees are crazy. How much do they pay for a pound of rat? Maybe they are just tired of clams.

[ToolMangler1]

by thesevenveils November 27, 2009 11:28 PM EST
"How much do they pay for a pound of rat? Maybe they are just tired of clams."


What the hey!! these same yokels pay big money to eat 'snails', Fried Cockroaches, Chocolate covered ants etc etc..

[skeezix06]

Yikes! Reason to avoid the Everglades.