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The python problem is growing in Florida and could spread to other states, including Texas
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Wildlife expert Justin Matthews captured a 14-foot python in West Florida on Saturday, and officials say this is just one more example of a serious python problem that is spreading across the state and could move throughout the southern part of the nation.
Matthews owns Matthews' Wildlife Rescue, an animal care and educational company, and he has permits to capture pythons and other large reptiles. He and his son were able to pull the giant snake out of a pipe, but it took six people to hold the reptile down in order to measure it. Matthews suspects the snake was dumped by its former owner – an action that is illegal in Florida - and it has been living in the area for some time, surviving on ducks and other wildlife.
According to Florida officials, 201 pythons were captured or found dead in and around Everglades National Park from 2002 to 2005. In 2006-2007, that number more than doubled to 418. Between May of 2006 and May of 2008, seven pregnant female pythons and one nest of python eggs were discovered in the Florida wild, and one python captured during that time period had 85 developing eggs. Experts say female pythons have the ability to store sperm, which allows them to produce fertile eggs for years.
Python populations are not limited to the Everglades. They have been discovered in Big Cypress National Preserve north of the Everglades, in Miami's water management areas to the northeast, at Key Largo to the southeast, and in various state parks and cities. One wildlife biologist familiar with the situation estimates the state’s python population at around 30,000.
Pythons make poor pets
Despite their attraction for some pet owners, pythons make far from ideal pets. On July 2, a Florida 2-year-old was strangled by a 12-foot Burmese python that managed to escape from its tank in the girl’s rural home northwest of Orlando. The snake’s owner, the boyfriend of the girl’s mother, discovered the snake on top of the youngster. Although he stabbed the snake, the child was dead when emergency crews arrived.
While such tragedies are rare, authorities in Florida wildlife officials are concerned about non-native snakes being kept as pets and about the python population explosion in wilderness areas. They say the problem is the result of pet snakes being dumped in the wetlands by owners who buy them when they are small but cannot handle them when they grow to full size.
Pythons are native from Pakistan to Indonesia, where they may be eaten (when young) by birds of prey, crocodiles, leopards, tigers and hyenas. But in the Florida Everglades they have no natural predators. With nothing to stop them, they can easily grow longer than 16 feet, weigh as much as 250 pounds, live for 30 years and readily consume birds and small animals, which poses a significant threat to native species. They are fast swimmers, but can also cover a lot of ground very quickly. Researchers that implanted radio transmitters on two pythons found that the snakes traveled 35 miles and 43 miles, respectively.
Snakes on a state?
A major concern of government officials and wildlife experts is that pythons could find ideal climatic conditions in roughly a third of the United States. According to "climate maps" developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, the highly adaptable reptiles could easily make themselves at home across the southern part of the country, including all parts of Texas.
Frank Mazzotti of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences has studied the python problem for several years. He believes humans are far more likely to be injured by animals that don’t typically induce fear, such as dogs that bite, than be injured by non-venomous snakes like pythons. However, he adds that finding a solution to Florida’s problem should be a priority since non-native species can be prohibitively expensive to control once a population has been established.
In 2008, laws went into effect in an effort to combat Florida’s python pet problem, including a $100 yearly exotic snake ownership permit and a mandatory microchip for the snake. But authorities say it’s essential to educate people about the dilemma of turning non-native species loose in the wild.
Currently, USGS scientists are studying the behavior and biology of these snakes and seeking to compile scientific data to make appropriate decisions that would control the growth of existing populations. In most situations, Mazzotti believes the best strategy is to contain and reduce the number of pythons by locating, capturing and euthanizing the non-native reptiles.
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