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'Python Patrol' targets giant snakes of South Florida ("eating a lot of our endangered species")
cnn.com ^ | March 30, 2009 | Kim Segal and John Zarrella

Posted on 03/30/2009 11:37:50 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

MARATHON, Florida (CNN) -- Juan Lopez reads meters with one eye and looks for snakes with the other. Lopez is a member of the "Python Patrol," a team of utility workers, wildlife officials, park rangers and police trying to keep Burmese pythons from gaining a foothold in the Florida Keys.

Officials say the pythons -- which can grow to 20 feet long and eat large animals whole -- are being ditched by pet owners in the Florida Everglades, threatening the region's endangered species and its ecosystem.

"Right now, we have our fingers crossed that they haven't come this far yet, but if they do, we are prepared," Lopez said.

Burmese Pythons are rarely seen in the middle Florida Keys, where Lopez works. The Nature Conservancy wants to keep it that way.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: darwinism; endangeredspecies; immigration
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To: org.whodat

$100 per pregnant female.


21 posted on 03/30/2009 12:03:17 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Socialism is the belief that most people are better off if everyone was equally poor and miserable.)
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To: org.whodat

do you really need a bounty? how about just an open season on them, and tell the rednecks that python tastes better than alligator.


22 posted on 03/30/2009 12:08:15 PM PDT by absolootezer0 (thank God for Chicago: makes Detroit look wholesome by comparison.)
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To: absolootezer0
do you really need a bounty? how about just an open season on them, and tell the rednecks that python tastes better than alligator.

Sometimes you get two for the price of one: Burmese python explodes after eating gator.
23 posted on 03/30/2009 12:13:28 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: absolootezer0
When I was a kid, we had a problem with rabbit fox. Those tails paid for a lot of ammo for my 22.
24 posted on 03/30/2009 12:14:48 PM PDT by org.whodat (Auto unions bad: Machinists union good=Hypocrisy)
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To: BenLurkin
Does it taste like chicken?

No it's taste's sort of like spotted owl. But not quite like bald eagle.

25 posted on 03/30/2009 12:16:23 PM PDT by bikerman (Obama lied;the Country died.)
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To: hoosierham

Damn! I think a new make believe felony is a little harsh. We’ve got enough stupid felonies in this country. How about a $100 license and some limitations on disposal? I owned one and successfully bred her. Decided I didn’t want her anymore some my buddy and I sold a breeding pair for $500. She was a nice snake, just don’t get between one and it’s dinner.


26 posted on 03/30/2009 12:26:48 PM PDT by east1234 (It's the borders stupid! My new enviromentalist inspired tagline: cut, kill, dig and drill)
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To: Jeff Chandler
Every exotic pet owner I have ever known was a shameless attention whore.

I don't believe that you get much attention if you have a Hermit Crab.

27 posted on 03/30/2009 12:51:06 PM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla ("men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." -- Edmund Burke)
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To: Jeff Chandler
Every exotic pet owner I have ever known was a shameless attention whore.

I don't believe that you get much attention if you have a Hermit Crab.

28 posted on 03/30/2009 12:56:04 PM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla ("men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." -- Edmund Burke)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
"Right now, we have our fingers crossed that they haven't come this far yet, but if they do, we are prepared"


29 posted on 03/30/2009 1:07:08 PM PDT by paulycy (BEWARE the LIBERAL/MEDIA Complex)
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To: BenLurkin

Rattlesnake tastes like chicken... it’s pretty good once you get past the idea of “snake”.


30 posted on 03/30/2009 1:24:31 PM PDT by GOPJ (Global Warming Hoax - Sucker Science In Action)
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
I don't believe that you get much attention if you have a Hermit Crab.

Look at me! I'm cool; I own a hermit crab!


31 posted on 03/30/2009 2:54:20 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Obama's next program: Kopechne Care)
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To: east1234

I think people who believe reptiles are good pets are delusional.Every person I have ever met or known to have exotic pets either wanted something different to shock/excite others or hoped to make a bunch of money from selling the dangerous things to others.


32 posted on 03/30/2009 10:46:15 PM PDT by hoosierham (Waddaya mean Freedom isn't free ?;will you take a credit card?)
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To: hoosierham

I just thought she was cool, breeding seemed like the next logical step as we had a pair.
Quick question, if you find a snake in your yard do you leave it alone, kill it, or move it so your kids don’t step on it?


33 posted on 03/31/2009 1:31:36 PM PDT by east1234 (It's the borders stupid! My new enviromentalist inspired tagline: cut, kill, dig and drill)
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To: org.whodat

“$50.00 per dead snake. “

Can I keep teh skin and skull?


34 posted on 03/31/2009 1:34:46 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: hoosierham

“Make it a federal felony to have non-native species outside of a licensed zoo.”

Like a pheasant?


35 posted on 03/31/2009 1:35:51 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: east1234

Depends on the species;poisonous snakes are killed,others may be relocated distant to the house.


36 posted on 03/31/2009 10:21:32 PM PDT by hoosierham (Waddaya mean Freedom isn't free ?;will you take a credit card?)
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To: DBrow
Maybe.

The difference with this and other types of threats is that the threat REPRODUCES itself unlike anything else stupid people do.Once released into a new area containing food and no natural enemies,these foreign animals invariably multiply and become at best a nuisance and displace native wildlife;at worst the new animal or plant becomes a real threat to people.

37 posted on 03/31/2009 10:28:14 PM PDT by hoosierham (Waddaya mean Freedom isn't free ?;will you take a credit card?)
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To: hoosierham

Pheasant, gerbil, hamster, cavy, most tortoises, ferrets, are all imports as are most pet snakes. If you go back far enough, horses and cattle, swine, llamas, and most dog breeds are imports.

Write carefully when you draft your Exotic Wildlife bill!

I know what you mean and I think I understand your intent, but the action needs considerable study before you inadvertently ban cats or spaniels.


38 posted on 04/01/2009 4:48:04 AM PDT by DBrow
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Why have a snake in the first place, especially one that grows so big? They’re aloof, they’re not cuddly, they don’t hunt, they don’t fetch slippers and you don’t take them for walks. They won’t do tricks either......


39 posted on 04/01/2009 4:58:05 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (This country isn't going to hell in a handbasket, it's riding shotgun on an Indy car....)
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To: Elle Bee

What do conchs and a school superintendent’s wife have to do with pythons in the everglades?


40 posted on 04/01/2009 5:01:37 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (This country isn't going to hell in a handbasket, it's riding shotgun on an Indy car....)
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