IMAGE: MrClean1982 on Flickr took this interesting and humorous shot of an American White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) from the Florida Everglades.

BREAK
A master agreement has been reached between the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that puts the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan back on track. From MiamiHerald.com:

The “master agreement” details how the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers will share costs and duties for 68 projects Congress approved in 2000 to restore the natural flow of the River of Grass.

Both sides hailed the agreement — reached when the Obama administration relented in a dispute over land values likely to shift as much as a half-billion dollars onto the federal ledger — as a breakthrough that should move restoration from talk to action.

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Terrence “Rock” Salt, a deputy assistant secretary of the Army who oversees the Corps, said construction could begin within months, starting with reclamation of 55,000 acres in the Picayune Strand, site of a Southwest Florida development that flopped decades ago. The Corps has $41 million in stimulus funding for that job.

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Over the next two years, the Obama administration has budgeted or is seeking congressional approval for almost a half-billion dollars to begin restoration projects, including ones to restore freshwater flows to Biscayne Bay coastal wetlands, overhaul the C-111 canal to keep more water in Everglades National Park and build a reservoir to bolster Broward County’s water supply and limit seepage from adjacent Everglades marshes.

Down the road, the agreement also could potentially open the door for federal help to complete Gov. Charlie Crist’s controversial $536 million deal to buy 73,000 acres from the U.S. Sugar Corp. and convert them to massive reservoirs and pollution-treatment marshes.

Meanwhile, Florida’s Burmese python problem continues to grow bigger and bigger—literally. From MiamiHerald.com:

Staff at the Okeechobee Veterinary Hospital routinely handle large animals. Along with pet dogs and cats, they treat hogs, horses, cows and bulls.

But the enormous critter that slithered uninvited onto the hospital grounds Thursday stunned everyone. It turned out to be one of the biggest Burmese pythons found roaming free in Florida.

The constrictor stretched 17 feet, two inches and measured 26 inches around at its thickest point. It weighed in at a staggering 207 pounds — four pounds more than the Miami Dolphins’ brawny No. 1 draft pick, Vontae Davis.

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Florida wildlife managers pointed to the find as the latest, and largest, evidence that the exotic snake, which has settled into the Everglades, is spreading across the state.

“The capture of this large python shows us how well these snakes can thrive in the wild and create a dangerous situation after illegal release or escape,” said Rodney Barreto, chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “It also illustrates why the FWC is partnering with other agencies to implement python control measures in South Florida.”

Two weeks ago, the FWC began an experimental permit program that allows reptile experts to euthanize Burmese pythons on state-managed lands around the Everglades, where the population is now estimated to number in the tens of thousands.

But the python patrol didn’t bag the giant snake that made its way onto the hospital’s 20-acre compound.

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Wildlife officers scanned for a microchip, required for pets under state law since 2007, but found nothing.

The images below show a Burmese python that was caught and killed by a South Florida Water Management District employee. The female python measured 16.2′ in total length and weighed 117-pounds with 59 large oviductal eggs, which were all fertile. The Burmese python images are credited to Skip Snow/Everglades National Park.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.

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To test the theory of whether “after several generations, [Burmese pythons] could eventually migrate to and flourish in as much as a third of the continental United States,” the Savannah River Ecology Lab in South Carolina is conducting a study to determine whether Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) can survive further north.

Currently, these massive constrictors have established a breeding population within the Florida Everglades—which is expected to spread northwards—and this invasion has been blamed on the pet trade. Burmese pythons grow very large, so their prey can be large, but younger snakes feed on smaller animals. As a result, the impact on Florida’s ecosystems is systemic.

At the moment, a bill is in the works to control destructive non-native species kept as pets. Recently, “a Florida toddler was strangled on Wednesday by a 12-foot (3.6-meter) albino Burmese python that escaped from a holding tank in the girl’s home.” From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Water managers dispatched two experts to Washington recently to back a bill targeting an Everglades problem that seems to get bigger every year. The latest, largest evidence emerged in mid-May: a Burmese python stretching 16½ feet.

It is the longest yet of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the exotic constrictors the South Florida Water Management District has pulled off its lands and levees in the past few years. More sobering: The female was pregnant, carrying a clutch of 59 eggs — more proof the giant snakes are breeding in the wild.

“These are not little snakes running around. These are massive, dangerous animals,” said district spokesman Randy Smith.

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But at its first hearing in April, the bill ran into what a co-sponsor quipped was a “hornet’s nest of opposition” from pet owners, breeders, hobbyists and pet stores. They expressed outrage to lawmakers in telephone calls, e-mails and YouTube videos — including one titled “Pets in Peril, Politicians Gone Wild” — arguing that the legislation would bar the ownership of anything more exotic than a Doberman or a Siamese cat.

“One-third of our nation has non-native species as pets, and apart from dogs, cats and goldfish, which are exempt [in the bill], virtually every species in those homes falls under” the legislation, said Marshall Meyers, CEO of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council. The bill “could shut down major segments of the pet industry virtually overnight.”

Proponents, including a coalition of 15 major environmental organizations such as the National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation, call the fears unjustified. They say the bill targets only species that pose a threat.

Still, some suggest the language in the bill is vague.

“There were some legitimate concerns, no one doubts that,” said Peter Jenkins, director of international conservation at Defenders of Wildlife. He notes that pet owners were alarmed when some animals — ferrets, gerbils, guinea pigs and others — weren’t named as species that would be exempt from the bill.

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Biologists argue that more than 400 of the 1,300 species on the endangered-species list are at risk primarily because they compete with — or are targets of — invasive species.

As one of the largest snakes in the world, sometimes topping 20 feet, pythons potentially could challenge the natural dominant predators of the Everglades or other wild places — a concern illustrated in 2005 by the now-famous photos of a 13-foot python that exploded after swallowing a 6-foot alligator.

Water district spokesman Smith said the impact is obvious along the L-67 levee.

“You won’t find a rabbit down there anymore,” he said. “That’s the most noticeable effect. It [the snake] doesn’t seem to have any predators, and it preys on native wildlife.”

Image Found Here

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Burmese pythons continue to reproduce and spread into suitable habitat throughout Florida, and the invasive population can continue to spread into suitable habitat further north outside of the sunny state—especially if climate change continues to increase northern temperatures (e.g., the plant hardiness zone map has shifted as northern temperatures warm; for example, “the Southern magnolia, once limited largely to growing zones ranging from Florida to Virginia, now can thrive as far north as Pennsylvania. Or that kiwis, long hardy only as far north as Oklahoma, now might give fruit in St. Louis.”)

Certainly, public education and awareness, in addition to new regulations are needed. Recently in California, “a 23-foot, 130-pound python was on the loose in a San Luis Obispo residential neighborhood for hours before the county sheriff’s search-and-rescue team located it sunbathing in a nearby backyard.” In Florida, the problem has become so serious that trained volunteers are needed to capture reptiles that are slithering out of the Everglades into residential areas. In order to learn how to capture the reptiles, which can inflict a painful bite, “a dozen mostly fearless students last week learned how to capture the enormous natives of Southeast Asia that have begun invading the Florida Keys.”

Furthermore, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) wants to “block sales to inexperienced pet owners, who in many cases have either released the snakes or let them escape when the creatures grew too large,” because the snakes are blamed for disrupting the already damaged Everglades ecosystem by competing with alligators and devouring endangered species. Certainly, snakes are efficient hunters, and it isn’t just the large snakes eating large prey that should be of concern, since juvenile pythons certainly have an impact on small animal populations. Increased conflicts between humans and the gigantic snakes will be another obvious problem too. At least these Burmese pythons don’t grow as large as some extinct “constrictors, [that weighed] more than a ton and [measured] 42 feet long.”

More on this topic from The Conservation Report:

1. INVASIVE SPECIES: 12-foot Burmese python found in Florida
2. INVASIVE SPECIES: Burmese pythons, an invasive species in south Florida, could spread to one third of United States
3. INVASIVE SPECIES: Invasive Burmese pythons spreading rapidly across Florida and populations could spread northwards into suitable climates

On the Net:

1. Everglades Burmese Python Project
2. USGS Maps Show Potential Non-Native Python Habitat Along Three U.S. Coasts
3. USGS Maps Show Potential Non Native Python Habitat Along 3 US Coasts
4. Python Invasion of U.S. Unlikely, New Study Says
5. Invasive Pythons Squeezing Florida Everglades

Image Found Here

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In terms of cost to tax payers and conflicts with humans, Burmese pythons are going to become a big problem for Florida. It’s very irresponsible for pet owners to release their non-native pets outdoors—or any pet for that matter.

Theoretically, it is possible for these large constrictors to spread further north out of Florida, since habitat suitability extends much further north. Warming temperatures as the result of anthropogenic climate change is expected to exacerbate the problem.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had used “Non-native Pet Amnesty Day” to take custody of unwanted non-native wildlife. It’s one of many tools Florida biologists are employing to bring the Burmese python plague under control. From the Sun-Sentinel.com:

The 12-foot non-venomous snake was caught by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers on Indiantown Road near Sierra Square Plaza late Monday night.

The snake appeared to be injured and may have been hit by a car, commission spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro said.

It was taken to Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter.

Releasing a Burmese python, a non-native species, is illegal because it can prey on native wildlife, Ferraro said.

Such pythons also are classified as “reptiles of concern” by the commission. Owners must have a permit and pay an annual fee of $100.

People may surrender their unwanted nonnative pets free of charge, no questions asked, during FWC’s pet amnesty days.

Read more about invasive Burmese pythons in Florida here.

On the Net:

1. Non-native Pet Amnesty Day
2. News Release: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission holds Non-native Pet Amnesty Day
3. Non-native Species Information

Image by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found here.

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Irresponsible pet owners have released Burmese pythons into the Floridian landscape. These snakes are now considered an invasive species and may spread to other areas of the United States. Furthermore, climate change may encourage these large snakes to spread even further north. More on Florida’s Burmese python problem can be found here and here.

Current areas of the U.S. suitable as Burmese python habitat:

Projected areas of the U.S. suitable as Burmese python during 2100 based on global warming models:

Burmese python facts via the SFGate:

Size: They can grow to 250 pounds and stretch over 23 feet.

Popular pets: They’re often released into the wild by irresponsible owners.

Lifestyle: When young, the pythons spend much of their time in trees. In adulthood, their weight makes tree-climbing too difficult.

Food: They survive on small mammals and birds but have been known to eat deer and alligators.

Eggs: They lay up to 100 at a time.

On the Net: New threat to our way of life: giant pythons

The Lionfish, a Pacific Ocean fish, are invading the Atlantic Ocean with serious consequences for native reef species. As an invasive species, lionfish have no known natural predators, and feed heavily on native reef species. Furthermore, genetic studies show that possibly all lionfish come from fewer than ten individuals.

Burmese pythons have become a similar problem in Florida, and these large snakes could spread to one third of the United States. Pet owners have a great responsibility to keep their animals safe and in their care.

On the Net: INVASIVE SPECIES: Unwanted exotic pets becoming invasive species
On the Net: INVASIVE SPECIES: Burmese pythons, an invasive species in south Florida, could spread to one third of United States
On the Net: Lionfish Education and Outreach

IMAGES: The first or top continental United States map illustrates climate that matches that of the Burmese pythons’ native range in Asia today. The lower map illustrates the situation when global warming data is considered. The map shows how the warmer climate range may shift northwards in the year 2100. USGS images. Click on either image to enlarge.

New data suggests that the Burmese Python (Python molurus bivittatus) has the ability to spread out of south Florida to other areas of the United States. The population continues to grow but various methods are being taken and explored to reduce the constrictor’s ability to spread. Burmese Pythons have been confirmed breeding in the wild. Furthermore, work by the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida reveals what the snakes have been eating. Stomach contents analysis have revealed everything from Old world rats (Rattus sp.) to animals as large as white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). Smaller animals such as the noble House wren (Troglodytes aedon) have been found in stomach analysis too. Smaller animals are probably taken by juvenile pythons. The domestic goose (Anser sp.) have been consumed leading to the logical presumption that conflicts with humans will increase as the gigantic snakes spread across the Southeastern portions of the United States. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida highlights the rapidly growing problem:

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) are popular pets in the United States because of their attractive color pattern, reputed docility, and the allure (for some) of owning a giant snake. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, approximately 99,000 Burmese pythons were imported to the United States between 1996 and 2006 (compared to only 17,000 between 1970 and 1995). The species is classified by the World Conservation Union as “near threatened” in its native range in Southeast Asia due to exportation for the pet trade and hunting for skins. Thousands of pythons are also captive bred each year in the U.S. for sale as pets. Burmese pythons sell at reptile trade shows for as little as $20, and at pet stores for $65-80. An inexperienced snake keeper who takes home a 50-centimeter (20-inch) hatchling is, within a year, responsible for a brawny 2.4-meter (eight-foot) predator. Unable to handle their giant snakes, and unable to find new homes for them, some owners illegally release them into the wild. Released and escaped Burmese pythons are now breeding in the wild, and their growing numbers may result in dire consequences for native wildlife and ecosystems in South Florida.

On the use of “Judas Snakes”

“Judas snakes” are telemetered pythons that lead researchers to other pythons, which are then captured and euthanized. In the 2006 breeding season, three snakes (one female and two males) were found in association with 15 “new” pythons, and in 2007, two male pythons led to 10 additional snakes. Of the 25 snakes discovered by this method in two years, 19 were captured and removed, and the other six escaped before capture was possible. Following a telemetered female also led to the discovery of the first nest, which confirmed the existence of a breeding population in ENP.

Adult humans can be difficult for large constrictors to consume. Apparently, the shoulders can be a hindrance. However, constrictors such as Burmese Pythons are powerful and can kill their owners by constricting. A constrictor’s mouth is smaller than its appetite. From Man-Eating Snakes I:

An 11-foot pet Burmese python by the name of Sally killed a 15-year-old boy in his bed in Commerce City, Colorado in 1993. The snake bit the boy on the right foot and apparently suffocated him. The fact that the boy’s fingers also were punctured and bleeding suggests that he tried to remove the snake from his foot. The snake weighed much less than the boy (24 vs. 43 kg) and showed how strong these constrictors can be….

A 13-foot 20 kg Burmese python killed a 19-year-old man in The Bronx, New York in 1996. A neighbor found him in a hallway outside his apartment with the snake wrapped around him….

Just recently, a 10-foot Burmese python strangled an 8-year-old girl in Irwin, Pennsylvania in August 2001. She fell into a coma and was declared brain-dead two days later.

On the Net: Recent report on the Burmese Pythons in South Florida: Scientific Support for Invasive Species Management in PDF format
On the Net: USGS Maps Show Potential Non-Native Python Habitat Along Three U.S. Coasts

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The adoption or purchase of an animal or pet should be a life commitment. These animals should not end up in shelters, sewers or the streets. The same is true for plants. Exotic pets can be especially detrimental.

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) are native to Southeast Asia and grow just shy of 30 feet in length. The snake is considered an invasive species of south Florida. It became established via the pet trade. It is presumed that owners could not longer care for their ever-growing curiosities so snake owners recklessly and maybe even maliciously released them into the Floridian wild. Global warming could allow the snake to spread further north.

Lionfish (Pterois volitans) are a venomous species native to the Pacific Ocean but are now also found off the Atlantic Coast in states like Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Again, the species probably became established by pet owners dumping the fish into the sea. Platys, an exotic freshwater fish species is thought to have become established in Australian waters from people flushing them down the toilet. This behavior is affectionately referred to as the Finding Nemo syndrome. From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Despite years of education, scientists said reckless owners probably flushed the fish down the toilet or released it in water systems, known as “Finding Nemo syndrome”.

The Department of Primary Industries found six of the fish in a drain connected to Newcastle’s main water supply, Grahamstown Dam. The department’s acting manager of aquatic biosecurity, Bill Bardsley, said that if the fish had spread to the dam it might be too late to control its numbers.

“This does highlight the need for ongoing public education, which we already do a considerable amount of,” he said.

“If you have a fish and you want to get rid of it, the right thing to do is to dispose of it humanely or give it to a fish shop or pass it on to a friend because you never know the damage they could do if released.”

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Current areas of the U.S. suitable as Burmese python habitat:

Year 2100 projected U.S. climate based on global warming models:

IMAGE by Lori Oberhofer shows an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) attempting to consume a Burmese python. However, Burmese pythons have been recorded consuming American alligators whole.

Burmese pythons or Python molurus bivittatus are very large snakes that kill their prey by asphyxiation, which is achieved through constriction. To prevent its prey from escaping, the python uses specially designed teeth to seize hold of its prey as it’s killed. Afterwards, the prey is swallowed completely.

Burmese pythons are native of Southeast Asia but are established in the Florida Everglades. The invasion comes via the pet trade where the snakes are purchased as curiosities. However, a small Burmese python will grow into a very large Burmese python; therefore, the snakes become too large to handle, since Burmese pythons have been recorded just shy of 30 feet and weighing just over 400 pounds.

To make matters worse, the climatic map of the United States is changing due to milder winters and climate change. As a result, suitable habitat for the Burmese python is  expanding. The large constrictor is just one example of many invasive species that have become established via pet owners who release unwanted pets into non-native habitat. The poisonous lionfish is another example, in addition to a slew of other bird, reptile, and plant species. Since invasive species occupy new ecosystems, they have no natural predators.  Sometimes other foreign species are carefully introduced to control invasive species; however, biological pest control can fail, because some introduced species that are suppose to control invasive species, may find natives easier to prey upon. Currently, Burmese pythons in Florida are being tracked to understand their movements and biology. In order to stop the pythons from expanding, special sniffer dogs are being used to find the snakes, and “pheromones can potentially be used to lure pythons into traps.”

The impact of invasive species on their new environments can be severe. From ScienceDaily:

Biologists with Everglades National Park confirmed a breeding population of Burmese python in the Florida Everglades in 2003, presumably the result of released pets. Python populations have since been discovered in Big Cypress National Preserve to the north, Miami’s water management areas to the northeast, Key Largo to the southeast, and many state parks, municipalities, and public and private lands in the region….

Burmese pythons have been found to eat endangered Key Largo woodrats and rare round-tailed muskrats. “This makes it that much more difficult to recover these dwindling populations and restore the Everglades,” said park biologist Skip Snow, “and all the more important that pet owners be responsible in their choice of pet and dispose of it properly should they need to. Releasing them into the environment is bad for that pet, bad for native species, and also illegal.”

On the Net: Everglades Burmese Python Project
On the Net: USGS Maps Show Potential Non-Native Python Habitat Along Three U.S. Coasts

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