Tag Archives: Burmese Python Everglades

EVERGLADES restoration deal reached between Army Corps and Florida after years of disagreement

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Via MrClean1982 on Flickr, an interesting and humorous image of an American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) in the Florida Everglades.

White Ibis

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.

.       .       .

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.

.       .       .

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 literally continues to grow bigger and bigger. 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.

.       .       .

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.

.       .       .

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 images are credited to Skip Snow/Everglades National Park.
Python Florida EvergladesPython Florida Everglades2

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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.

INVASIVE SPECIES: South Carolina study to determine whether invasive Burmese pythons can survive further north

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Burmese Python Range United StatesTo 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.

.       .       .

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.

.       .       .

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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INVASIVE SPECIES: Irresponsible pet owners causing spread of invasive Burmese pythons; invasive snakes impacting ecosystems

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snake-sightingsBurmese 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

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INVASIVE SPECIES: 12-foot Burmese python found in Florida

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burmese-python-floridaIn 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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INVASIVE SPECIES: Burmese pythons, an invasive species in south Florida, could spread to one third of United States

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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