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Hiss hiss hooray

Reporter waxes poetic on pythons

Posted by Sarah K. Burkhalter at 12:07 PM on 22 Feb 2008

Read more about: wildlife | Florida | national parks

gator_pythonGrist's take on potential python proliferation is, of course, unsurpassable -- but if it were to be surpassed, it would be by this article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Gotta love a paper that gives its reporter some editorial leeway for humor. Some of my favorite tidbits:

Biologists estimate 30,000 nonnative giant snakes live in the Everglades, perhaps more. Some have begun appearing in areas outside the park, alarming biologists and also people who don't care for snakes.

The snake that managed to slither 100 miles turned up on the shore of Lake Okeechobee in south central Florida. Another python made it as far as Vero Beach, Fla., on the Atlantic coast. Vero Beach is the spring training site for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the team has not reported any casualties, although its pitching staff could use help.

...

The natural enemies of the python are lions, tigers and other large cats. There are few free-roaming African lions and tigers between Florida and San Francisco, the geological survey said.

...

Small Florida deer have been turning up inside the digestive tracts of Everglades pythons, which has alarmed deer lovers and also the deer.

As for other potential prey, human beings - like rodents, beavers and deer - are mammals, government scientists confirmed.

our dear herp neighbors

I do NOT think I am going to make that photo my new wallpaper.

As for "government scientists," ain't it fine that part of their job is telling the public that they are mammals.

As for big cats, jaguars kill anacondas and boa constrictors in the American Tropics, and I am sure there are many who would love the idea of re-introducing jaguars into the old Spanish imperial territories of the US Southwest, no matter what Lou Dobbs has to say about it.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

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