Battle to eradicate invasive pythons in Florida achieves milestone

Summary

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A startling milestone has been reached in Florida's war against the invasive Burmese pythons eating their way across the Everglades. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida reports it has captured and humanely killed 20 tons of the snakes since 2013, including a record 6,300 pounds of pythons killed this past breeding season, according to a June 9 news release. To put that in perspective, 20 tons—or 40,000 pounds—is a mound of snakes the size of a fire truck ... or a fully loaded city bus. What's startling is those 1,400 snakes didn't come from a statewide culling. They came from a 200-square-mile area in southwestern Florida, the Conservancy reports. The greater Everglades ecosystem, where the snakes are thriving, covers more than 7,800 square miles, according to wildlife biologist Ian Bartoszek, the Conservancy Science Project Manager who oversees the python program. It's estimated tens of thousands of pythons are roaming the region, the U.S. Geological Survey says. "I guess the real question is what did it take in native animals to make 20 tons of python? ... It still amazes me how big these animals get and how many of them are out there," Bartoszek told McClatchy News in a phone interview. "Pythons have indeterminate growth and the more they eat, the larger they become. On this project we have captured the largest female by weight at just under 18 (feet) but weighing a massive 215 pounds and the largest male at 16 (feet) and 140 pounds. "Their size is a reflection of the available prey base. We probably grow them larger in Southwest Florida because we still have deer and medium-sized mammals for them to prey upon. In portions of the eastern Everglades, it is likely the reverse." University of Florida researchers have identified 85 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles that are being eaten by pythons in the Everglades, leading to fears they are decimating some native mammal populations, Bartoszek says. Southwestern Florida's wetla...