Mar 27, 2008 8:48 am US/Eastern
Pythons Wreak Havoc In The Everglades
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
-
-
Houdin, 12-foot Burmese python, July 19, 2006.
AP
The first python was discovered in the Everglades in 1979. It was removed, and no more were found until 1995. In the last six years, the population has exploded. More than 250 pythons have been discovered inside the park. The biggest one measured 15 feet long. Foreign snake species have established a stronghold in the watery wilderness of the Everlgades, putting native wildlife at risk.
Controlling the python population in the Everglades, according to Florida Senator Bill Nelson, it is a painstaking, around-the-clock slog against a voracious reptile. He told
CBS4 Shomari Stone, "This is a huge accident that is about to happen."
The senator said he will ask for federal assistance in removing the phythons. "Mother nature did not create the Burmese python in the Florida everglades," the senator added. "It's mankind that is bringing these things in from Southeast Asia and creating a real threat to our environment.
Scientists worry these snakes, which can grown as long as 26 feet, could start to feast on native species whose survival is in doubt.
The government provides more information on this subject on an Internet site titled "
Florida Invaders". Pythons find most delectable in the Everglades: raccoons, possums, muskrats and native cotton rats, which are under attack, as are birds such as the house wren, pied-billed grebe, white ibis and limpkin, according to
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The state agency's law enforcement division recently authorized its officers to kill exotic reptiles, specifically pythons, found on lands under its management.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Zoo Babies: Cuteness Unleashed
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
