A snake-catching tribe from India is helping Florida clean up its loose pythons

[yortsed snacilbuper]

To help with their growing Burmese python problem, officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) have brought in the big guns: members of India's Irula people, who make their living hunting snakes in their homeland.

Accompanied by hunting dogs, the tribesmen and park officials have so far caught 13 rogue snakes in eight days, including one female that measured a whopping 4.9 metres (16 feet) long.

"Dogs are helping to identify areas where pythons are hiding, paving the way for human searchers to target that area for removal," said Christina Romagosa, from Auburn University’s Canine Performance Sciences Program.

The partnership between the Irula and the wildlife team is only just getting started. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out, but if their current rate of capture is any indicator of the future, it seems like a perfect match.

http://www.sciencealert.com/a-snake-catching-tribe-from-india-is-helping-florida-clean-up-its-loose-pythons

[Stuart G]

1. I sure hope this helps control the problem..k and r for exposure

[HoneyBadger]

3. There are 300,000 Burmese pythons breeding in the wilds of Florida

Good luck

[dae]

6. Thanks for that shiver inducing fact, I hate snakes.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Tremendous news! So many idiots were just throwing them out when they got too large.

It's a lot better to give them to zoos than to let them devour pets, etc.

Thank you.

[HoneyBadger]

4. Wild caught animals unfortunately make poor pets

But pets often do very well in the wild.

There are exceptions.

There is a reptile breeding wild in Florida, the tegu, a huge lizard, that naturally love people and which are being trapped and successfully marketed as pets. The company is Tegus Only.

https://goo.gl/images/z7ezQz

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/tegu-lizards-are-taking-over-the-everglades-8890823

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Send them to DC to hunt Trumpkins. nt

[NCTraveler]

7. The FWC is an overall very good orginization.

That said, this isn't going to do all that much. They are populated over very sizable and remote areas of land. This and other catch proposals are out of desperation and education. They have added a more interesting aspect that has got more people reading about the problem. That's why I don't completely negate these ideas even though they won't even help to put a dent in the numbers. The python population will grow. I'm really not sure what needs to happen. And extremely hard freeze for an extended period would be a blessing. Still, hard freezes for that area are rare and usually only last a night or two.

[cyclonefence]

8. I agree

These snakes love the Everglades and breed there very successfully. Probably the only thing that will eradicate them is starvation, after they've finished killing all the deer, panthers, raccoons, possums, alligators and any other non-python--although I guess they cannibalize themselves, too.

Maybe we should create a Noah's Ark for the other species and then wait these fuckers out. It's a horrible problem, and I despair.