Don't you just hate it when that happens (missing photo op)! Some of the funniest/most interesting things happen when the camera isn't around!
Thank you, lancej! People do not realize just how much, and how badly, even the "inner sanctum" of the Everglades has been altered by humans. The sugar cane industry, one of the biggest industries in FL, had already had a tremendous negative impact on the ecosystems of southern Florida long before the pythons came into the act, and that does include the Everglades National Park. That whole area is fed by waterways that have been diverted, dammed up, and polluted by agriculture and industry, even if those things are not allowed within the park's boundaries. Politicians are trying to be "green heroes" by being the one to "save" the Everglades and return it to whatever state it was in before the sugar cane industry, before, the tourist industry, before the highway systems and before the massive influx of "snowbirds" on southern Florida, and the pythons and other non-native wildlife have become symbolic for their efforts. They think that by eliminating these, they can finally establish "saving the Glades" as their legacy, but in reality, the pythons and other animals are just a tiny piece of a big picture, and it's not a very pretty picture, either.
All the invasive plants that are running rampant are rarely discussed, and they are one of the biggest problems in preventing the ecosystem from getting back to a more normal state. Can you imagine the uproar that would ensue if the state ban the use of exotic plants in landscaping?
Too bad plants don't eat dogs... then maybe people would take it more seriously ha. I remember not too long ago the environmental club on my campus tried to get the school to let them remove the invasive Phragmites from one of the foot paths and got hit with such resistance from management just because they considered it an "ornamental", despite the fact they hadn't even planted it in the first place and the patch slowly grows in size each year... Here in Michigan we have BIG problems with invasive organisms just like Florida, but since none of them have rows of razor sharp teeth (except sea lampreys...) they don't usually get much press coverage.
I wish we could ban the outdoor planting of invasive plants. People don't understand the degree to which our ecosystem depends on native plants. Most plants don't want to be eaten so they go out of their way to taste bad and even be toxic to animals, only those species that have developed evolutionary relationships with said plants can eat them. Caterpillars will not eat non-native plants, so the birds that eat caterpillars won't be able to eat so the animals that eat them won't have food and on and on up the food chain. North America is losing it's biodiversity in part for this reason. A snake that can barely survive in southern Florida and eats what a few rodents a year per snake isn't the problem.
"Oh will somebody please think of the children!" This sentiment disgusts me, the alligators were there before us maybe we should start managing human populations instead.Fulene said:
Well, I can see why you call yourself pitbulllady! I'm not moaning about native predators. I'm not calling alligators invasives. I'm not saying pythons could adapt OVERNIGHT. Un less you've been alive since 1942 I've probably had more experience than you! People can't read these days.
Thanks, that's what I was talking about! Irresponsible owners dumping exotics. It's sad for the dumpees like the poor Tegu lizard I mentioned, and, as I stated before, exotic fish are being found in our lakes here in OK. BTW, we have quite large native snakes here. Yes, sadly, people want to kill every snake they see.
This is not true. Burmese Pythons are doing serious damage in the Everglades of FL displacing and putting major dents in populations of many kinds of native species. This is why they now conduct massive " open season " hunt events for them, inviting any and all to participate. The Burmese pythons are a REAL problem there.
YEAH!! Whatever happened to the ladies on waterskis standing in pyramids on each others shoulders? LOL
My point is simply that huge pythons are capable of killing dogs and even mature humans. They're not aggressive but they CAN do it. If a dog in a yard can be killed, so can a child. While American alligators are not " invasives" they are found all over the place in S. FL. In ponds, swimming pools, golf course water hazards, parks, yards. I'm not advocating wiping them out, just saying, they can be a problem.
Well, now technically, Fulene, a pecan tree in your yard can fall on and kill a child, so do we need to remove all the trees, too, while we're at this business of "controlling" anything that can hurt a child? I despise that mentality, that "we need to get rid of it because the next time it could be a child" mentality, because logically it falls flat, period. It's based on pure emotion, not reason. There is a HUGE difference in having the POTENTIAL to cause harm and the actual real TENDENCY to cause harm, and in this particular case, the one being harmed-the dog-put itself in that position by no doubt attacking the snake. I also cannot sympathize with people who MOVE INTO WILDLIFE HABITAT, knowingly and willingly, and then complain that there are *GASP*-WILD ANIMALS-there. Alligators in Florida's water hazards on golf courses, in people's swimming pools? REALLY? HELLO, people, you moved to FLORIDA! It ain't Connecticut or Boston! If you don't like the wildlife we have here in the South, stay up north where there are no gators and rattlesnakes and other scary critters! Don't come down here and complain and whine about things that were here millions of years before any of us were!
The Everglades had been majorly altered, and now the state is in the process of trying to restore it. The Burmese is a problem, but a VERY SMALL problem. The 2013 python hunt had 1600 participants and yielded 68 pythons. Even the biologists that have either following the study or are involved in the study have stated that this problem is largely over stated, mainly by the media.
The way the media makes it sound, I should be fighting Burms and Nile monitors every time I go to my car. Strangely, I have seen none. Yet I see all kinds of cats running wild and killing small animals indiscriminately...
"She and her son tried prying the python loose, she said, then tried using garden shears on it, but nothing would make the snake loosen its death grip" Sad they didn't try harder... all it takes is a shovel to take a snake's head off. At 38 pounds this wasn't even a big one... yet another fail story from Florida.
Another example: People killed by cows each year in the U.S. - 22
Blow dryers kill 17 people a year, why don't we get rid of blow dryers too? And to Fulene why are you so against owing exotic pets? You don't seem as experienced as you claim to be especially because it seems like you believe everything the media tells you. Anytime you hear something from the media you ALWAYS take it with a grain of salt because there is always some opinions put in
Not sure if thats sarcasm, but how does a blow dryer kill someone? And I was just pointing out odd facts.
Home electrocution accidents. Believe it or not, people still use blow dryers while in the bath tub. The other common one is blow drying hair or an electric razor while leaning at the sink, a hand on the metal faucet. The one that really worries me is the new electric toilets that flush themselves. I'm admittedly plumb stone crazy but I'm still not going to relieve myself into a 240 volt appliance. I'll leave that to the people afraid a constrictor is going to eat them if they go out into their back yard.