Posted on 01/12/2013 4:07:33 PM PST by george76
It’s *not* a Burmese Python that swallowed a gator and then “blew up”.
See post #38, above.
There are plenty of videos of alligator - python interaction on youtube.
As to the fragility of pythons perhaps you can explain the rapid growth of pythons in the Everglades and the lack of small native wildlife.
In some areas the native wildlife (birds, racoons, rabbits, squirrels, etc) has been eliminated.
The people who actually work in the park dispute those numbers.
Has no one considered that the same abnormal freezes killing the snakes is affecting everything else, as well?
The Everglades are being squeezed by human encroachment.
There’s a *lot* of building going on right on top of it.
Birds, raccoons, rabbits and squirrels? No, they can take a cold snap with no problem.
In case you missed the link I posted previously featuring the words of those who work most closely with the glades:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/24/us-usa-pythons-everglades-idUSTRE81N24120120224
As in so many bogus crises, there is massive politics and fear mongering going on.
Feral cats are far more devastating to ecosystems *everywhere* than these isolated Burms could *ever* be yet everyone would rise as one in indignant protest if they declared a National Cat Killing Month.
It is only because these are not cute, furry, doe-eyed mammals that this can be an issue.
Feral hogs are destroying the ecosystems all over the US.
I don’t see any federal laws being passed on them.
I see this issue like others see gun control.
*I* may not want an arsenal of 100 round ‘assault rifles’ myself but I support the rights of others to have them, if they choose to.
We’ve seen ‘breed ban legislation’ quietly slide from today’s most vicious breed to the next breed down the list and I guarantee, the list will keep getting longer until HSUS and PETA get their way and all pets will be outlawed.
*That* is the overwhelming issue, here.
Look at what is -behind- and -beneath- this tempest in a teapot.
It’s not about some wild snakes.
It’s about regulating domesticated animals/pets.
Their brilliance is in picking something ‘scary’ that most people will cheerfully support banning....kinda like ‘scary black guns’.
“PETA is not happy”
You’re only half right.
They are not concerned that the snakes are being killed.
They are concerned about the *method* of killing, as they should be.
Cutting the head off does not kill the animal.
It can and will suffer for quite a long time after decapitation.
PETA is happy to see animals killed, as always.
There’s nothing in your link referring to “breed ban legislation”. The Python Challenge has nothing to do with domestic Pythons.
You keep watching this hand while I pull a rabbit out of a hat with the other:
http://www.nps.gov/ever/historyculture/developeverglades.htm
http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/PageServer?pagename=can_results_everglades_protection
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-01-21/news/9501200730_1_everglades-tree-islands-high-water
http://www.everglades.org/2012/03/stop-urban-growth-on-the-edge-of-floridas-everglades/
Let’s not look at what people are doing [very profitably] to the Everglades.
Let’s designate a scapegoat.
Bet the building continues long after the evil snakes have died off.
“but allowing hunters to decapitate pythons—who remain alive and in agony and who will writhe for an hour even after their heads have been cut off—is despicably cruel,” PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk said....”
Oh, BTW. Ms Newkirk is an idiot.
I only mentioned your flawed theory on abnormal freezes hurting the warm blooded critters. Never said a thing about over-development.
In case you’re not aware of it, The Lacey Act.
http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusfd16usca3371.htm
Several states have passed laws banning certain species of snake and reptiles and there is a federal law on certain species of snakes.
It is now a felony to transport any of the listed animals in or out of a state, even though the state may be one in which it would perish quickly if it got loose somehow.
Thankfully, MD slapped the state laws down, out of hand.
But the federal law remains.
So yes, there is already a “breed ban” in effect.
I suggest that, if you’re interested in being a high information voter, you check out USARK at http://usark.org/.
This was done while most people ‘weren’t looking’.
Obama jumped on it like a hungry shark, much like he’s going to jump on the upcoming new gun laws.
In the states which adopted the bans, rescue organizations were quickly set up as owners were terrified of being prosecuted for the brand new felony of owning their pets.
[no ‘grandfather rule]
This is one of many
http://www.savetheburms.org/About-Us.html
The local snake store accepted hundreds of reptiles surrendered by people who feared prosecution should their snakes wind up on The List.
Think about that.
Something you legally own *right now* could be considered felony possession tomorrow.
-Think- about that...especially *now*.
She may be an idiot but in this case, she is correct.
Euthanizing snakes is a tricky proposition.
Using the usual sedative methods don’t work because their metabolisms are so slow.
Cutting their heads off is brutal as the head remains alive and aware of pain for quite a long time.
The most common method is “pithing” in which a spike is driven precisely through the brain.
Were it my snake suffering from an irreversible illness, I’d just smash its head with a brick.
That’s the only quick, sure and kind way to do it.
“The idiot” is right.
Abnormally cold snaps here in W.MD decimate mammalian populations who are already conditioned to harsh winters so why would it be different for those species *not* accustomed to “normal” very cold weather?
In late February, one good ice storm wipes out the first round of squirrel litters, wholesale.
It is very plausible.
The over development issue is the hand you should be watching.
Just up the road from me, a company bought several hundred acres and put up McMansions.
We had very few rabbits, coon and possums for 2 years after.
The jerk on the ridge me beside logged the whole ridge of old growth oaks 5 years ago and we’re just now seeing squirrels, chipmunks and coons coming back.
I *rarely* see possums or skunks, any more.
Their habitats were summarily destroyed.
The horrible part was watching the cats come in and slaughter the baby squirrels still in their nests which were now laying on the forest floor.
A bunch of loose snakes aren’t making people rich.
Developments, strip malls and expensive condos are.
Bet on it.
How were you lucky enough to find a place to live where nothing was destroyed to build it and no habitat was razed and no animals were displaced? Or is it only expensive dwellings that hurt animals?
Actually, I am lucky.
This log house was built in the 1700’s in a naturally occurring hollow that is backed by 3 mountain ridges.
Virtually nothing was displaced and the pond that was created to feed the spring house became an absolutely wonderful place for many species of frogs, toads and salamanders to breed safely due to the lack of predatory fish.
It’s also a popular hangout for deer, coons, possums, skunks and innumerable water fowl and other birds.
Not to mention the myriad of water loving insects.
It’s a very harmonious place built by people who worked with the land rather than against it.
Thanks for asking.
Ahh, they felled many mature trees, the nest trees for countless arboreal creatures. That made openings in the canopy to let in more sunlight and start scrub growth underneath.The pond was dug out, making a microclime and changing the preferred habitat of more species. Other animals that used to come to the spring now learned to avoid it, along with it’s new human residents. Cutting firewood was an almost constant activity in the area, disturbing the peace and destroying more habitat for the locals. Smoke from the cooking fires drove away certain insect species, and with them went the avian species who feed upon them. What was once a quiet holler now has an unnatural smelly human invasion for hundreds of years. But anyone else wanting to build a home somewhere now is a jerk or worse.
FL should have initiated bounties like this years ago.
And as a side note, those same sport utility rifles with NV scopes are an instrument of choice for taking out feral hogs. There are plenty of YouTube vids, or were the last I looked.
“who remain alive and in agony and who will writhe for an hour even after their heads have been cut off”
Funny.
We skinned a rattler once and put it in a ziplock for supper. it writhed for a good hour, de-headed, skinned and gutted.
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