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FL man jailed for killing pythons, while park service can't kill them fast enough
Fargo Forum & USA Today ^ | May 2012 | Various

Posted on 05/31/2012 8:17:22 PM PDT by ExxonPatrolUs

Fargo Forum: A man who moved from Florida to Dilworth last summer admitted today that he allowed his 32 ball python snakes to freeze to death in an unheated storage unit in Glyndon last winter. “I just couldn’t find any place to put them,” 50-year-old Henry Ward Atherton Jr. said in Clay County District Court. Atherton pleaded guilty to all three charges against him: one felony and two misdemeanors counts of mistreatment of animals.
USA Today: Sightings of raccoons are down 99.3%, opossums 98.9% and white-tailed deer 94.1%. According to Linda Friar with Everglades. National Park, park personnel have captured or killed 1,825 pythons since 2000.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: animal; control; florida; python
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To: Eaker
True... for a ball python. But what about the infinitely more deadly hollow point python?
21 posted on 06/01/2012 4:02:50 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Now them you gotta keep an eye on..............


22 posted on 06/01/2012 4:05:25 PM PDT by Eaker (When somebody hands you your arse, don't give it back saying "This needs a little more tenderizing.")
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To: Salamander
Name calling and insults.

No reply to my original issue.. loosing snakes. So is it OK to release a ball python because they grow to less than five feet.. most are around four feet?

Is it OK to just let one loose? Shouldn't the owner be discouraged from releasing snakes of any size?

IMO the one who loosed the snake should be subject to laws similar to ones that prohibit leaving firearms laying around. The degree of punishment can depend upon the nature of the snake. But punishment for loosing the snake there should be. IMO.

No insult will ever convince me that a loose and hungry ball python would never attack a kitten that it happened upon.

Maybe the adult cat could kill the small python but I have seen film of big cats and big pythons go at. No way could the python swallow the big cat but they still went at it.

23 posted on 06/01/2012 4:08:52 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: Tijeras_Slim; Eaker

When ballistic pythons are banned, we’ll still have Rock Pythons.


24 posted on 06/01/2012 4:10:50 PM PDT by Salamander
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To: Eaker

cute.


25 posted on 06/01/2012 4:11:56 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: Salamander

I don’t think pythons would make it in NM, but we do have sidewinders. And yes, they sound just like in the movies.


26 posted on 06/01/2012 4:14:23 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

Since you’re too lazy or thick:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/24/us-usa-pythons-everglades-idUSTRE81N24120120224


27 posted on 06/01/2012 4:16:48 PM PDT by Salamander
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To: WilliamofCarmichael; Salamander

I don’t think anyone should be cruel enough to let any animal loose in the wild.

I also don’t think anyone should be stupid enough to compare a small and defenseless critter to an automatic weapon.

Apparently you know nothing about snakes but appear to know something about kittens. So which would you rather have if involved in a gun fight, a kitten or a gun?

You do know that the military isn’t issued kittens or ball pythons when going into battle don’t you? There is a reason for that.


28 posted on 06/01/2012 4:17:12 PM PDT by Eaker (When somebody hands you your arse, don't give it back saying "This needs a little more tenderizing.")
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To: Salamander
Thank you for an adult reply.

My last reply to you was made before I read this explanation.

Yes the "‘exploded’ python/gator was staged." I did not believe it when I saw the photo.

29 posted on 06/01/2012 4:17:22 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Pythons would not but you do have indigenous Boas, such as the Rosy Boa.

The brutal facts are that *none* of the so-called ‘invasive pythons” can survive outside the relatively small area of the Everglades.

The recent cold winters have drastically reduced their populations because the snakes -absolutely require- very hot, constant temperatures to survive.

We’re talking 80s-90s, year round.

A lengthy drop below even 70 degrees is lethal to them.

They are *never* going to spread beyond the subtropical area where they are currently found.

Their normal habitats have 100+ degree days and 80+ degree nights.

*All* of this is just political BS being pushed by the usual liberal, control freak suspects; peta, HSUS and moron politicians eager to assuage the fears of their cowardly, brain-washed and superstitious constituents.

*Only* snakes which -hibernate- can deal with the climates commonly found in the US.

No Pythonidae or Boidae hibernate.

Ever.


30 posted on 06/01/2012 4:26:21 PM PDT by Salamander
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

The “original issue” was a moron murdering his BPs in a cruel manner.

*You* brought up the knee jerk straw man of “releasing snakes”.

Why in hell would you, in your wildest fever dreams, ever imagine I’d countenance such an egregious act?

To ‘release them’ is to effectively doom them to a lingering, terrible death.

“IMO the one who loosed the snake should be subject to laws similar to ones that prohibit leaving firearms laying around.”

You are almost wonderfully irrational.

“No insult will ever convince me that a loose and hungry ball python would never attack a kitten that it happened upon.”

And spectacularly ignorant of reality.

How should I rationally continue this debate when you are so irrational and woefully ill-informed?

Were I you, I’d stop watching the scary sake movies on the SyFy channel.

FYI, a good size Burm can swallow and entire sheep, horns and all.

However, the sheep is a prey animal, not a predator, such as a cat.

[are you are aware that the *biggest* ball python still has a head the size of your thumb? they’re flexible but not magical]


31 posted on 06/01/2012 4:37:50 PM PDT by Salamander
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To: Salamander

That was exactly why I pinged you to the thread, actually. In hopes maybe even ONE person might believe it from someone who’s handled tame snakes, someone who they trust.

They interest me more and more, but I simply don’t have the sort of firsthand experience to speak authoritatively, and you do.

And to whoever it was upthread, I don’t look very kindly on ANY tame animal being tossed out. They’re domesticated, not wild, and it’s not going to end well for beast nor human.


32 posted on 06/01/2012 5:06:24 PM PDT by Fire_on_High (WTB new tagline, PST!)
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To: Salamander

The weather where I am is a bit extreme. Last week I had a day at 85 and it hit 29 that night. All at 10-15 percent humidity.

Take care my FRiend.


33 posted on 06/01/2012 7:09:18 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

Again, GET EDUCATED.

They are pets, not just ‘pets’, as much as any other.

Yes, you are entirely correct, these pets, as well as ALL other pets, should not be released into the wild, especially if not their native habitat. You’ll get no arguement from me there. Floridas Python and Anaconda problem should be met with hunting/extermination efforts. People who knowingly release these animals should take a beating with sticks.

No Ball Python is a threat to human or cats or dogs, though if you keep mice or rats, you may have an issue. Just because a Ball Python is a Python, does not mean anything about what the animal might be or its threat to you are other pets.

Get away from fear.


34 posted on 06/04/2012 4:46:31 AM PDT by RoadGumby (This is not where I belong, Take this world and give me Jesus.)
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