This might be a bit gruesome, but why not shoot the snakes the on site? That seems way easier and faster than physically wrestling dangerous snakes sometimes bigger than yourself, throwing them in your truck, and shooting them in your garage. Is it just the solemnity? The chance of missing and it escaping and the difficulty of wrestling with a gun?
Introducing natural predators for pythons like the king cobra might be a more scalable solution. It’s very hard to shoot all the members of an invasive species.
A wonderful work of late Terry Pratchett comes to mind:
“We got a bit carried away,” said Moist. “We were a bit too creative in our thinking. We encouraged mongooses to breed in the posting boxes to keep down the snakes…”
Lord Vetinari said nothing.
“Er… which, admittedly, we introduced into the letter boxes to reduce the number of toads…”
Lord Vetinari repeated himself.
“Er… which, it’s true, staff put in the posting boxes to keep down the snails…”
Lord Vetinari remained unvocal.
“Er… These, I must in fairness point out, got into the boxes of their own accord, in order to eat the glue on the stamps,” said Moist, aware that he was beginning to burble
Maybe some combination of cameras (thermal, traditional, maybe even Lidar) combining data and processing it to detect at least likely pythons.
It wouldn't have to be perfect, but I imagine such a solution could be more effective than even the most experienced and talented human python spotter.
It’s an hourly wage and the pay isn’t high enough to cover costs of breeding pythons.
A python can weigh over 200lb. It takes a lot to support a snake that big and they monitor sizes to ensure the catch matches what you would expect from a wild population.
the Everglades and its web of life as we know it have existed for five thousand years. In the comparative blink of an eye, that intricate system has been upended.
...that doesn't sound so bad, when you put it like that. This is part of a bigger philosophical stance of mine: maybe the best course of action isn't "preserve nature exactly as we found it forever"? I definitely see the utility in ridding Florida of literal monsters, but in general, some of our fights against invasive species just seem... IDK, vain. Brazen. Arrogant. Like, they're considering an owl hunting program in the western US to protect the slower, shittier owls that already live there. What's the point? Will we have owl hunting season until the sun expands?
She has been bitten more times than she can count; though not venomous, pythons possess rows of curved, needle-sharp teeth. .. “Use a floodlight to scan the ground near the truck, and look for an iridescence and a pattern... Shout ‘Python!’ if you think you see something, even if you’re not positive—it’s better to be wrong than to miss one."
...surely drones, night vision, and guns could help solve this problem? I understand that snakes can "remain conscious" after injury, but wrestling the pythons into a cage so you can execute them in your garage seems like a step too far. Maybe I'm underestimating how hard it would be to shoot a snake?
ETA: they do eventually reference "researchers using drones", so we're not the only ones to think of that. Not to rejoice in anyone losing their job of course, but I do hope that some automation makes this more feasible.
> ...surely drones, night vision, and guns could help solve this problem?
It takes an average of ten hours of searching per snake during which time they mostly drive around so I don’t think drones are a realistic option here due to flight time. There’s little benefit to searching far beyond the roads/levees because the swamp is a very tough terrain to navigate and it gets dangerous thanks to the gators.
Can’t use (real) night vision googles because any stray light from the car could blind the wearer and it would kill the driver’s peripheral vision making it impractical to drive.
> "preserve nature exactly as we found it forever"
It's not even "as we found it", it's "as it was at a certain arbitrary point in time". I've seen zero proposals to eliminate earthworms, honeybees, or dandelions from the Americas.
A single shot is unlikely to kill, and in these areas a snake can very quickly disappear into water or foliage. I doubt drones or night vision would help much for similar reasons - the issue lies as much in being able to reach the snakes as it does in being able to locate them. The Everglades are incredibly thick, a snake will easily outpace and hide from a human outside of roads. It does seem like there should be a better way than wrestling them but it's hard to say what that might be.
That's why they make guns that can load more than one bullet at a time. Also, maybe use a higher caliber bullet. Lot's of asinine pro-gun enthusiastic responses available for Florida man to retort with.
Controlling invasive species is not just some sentimental thing about preserving the purity of nature. Invasive species can massively destabilize an ecosystem- wiping out huge numbers of other species, and destroying natural resources humans depend on for economic livelihood. It is hard to predict the severity of the end point, so best to head it off as aggressively and early as possible.
I'm not necessarily opposed to eradicating invasive species, but natural ecosystems are seldom stable. Populations boom and crash all the time for other reasons.
That sounds to me like saying "there's no reason to put out this kitchen fire I accidentally started in my house, since lighting sometimes starts fires naturally."
Natural ecological events can certainly be difficult for humans to deal with, and even cause mass famine, etc. - but we have many more recent cases of ecological catastrophe caused by humans.
So when can we start writing articles glazing the US's most lethal cat hunters? They're an invasive species in most states and kill billions of native birds every year.
One of the most effective techniques we use for mosquito population control is to actually breed infertile mosquitoes and release them out in the wild. When mosquitoes breed they will end up laying infertile eggs
I wonder if we could do the same with other species or if the destructiveness pythons exhibit in their much longer lifespans makes this equation work out very differently
Well first, I think there would need to be cat hunters. I don’t think there are.
Second, we’ve decided as a society that a particular set of animals are ones we love and protect. Dogs, cats, horses, etc. So it’s very unlikely any hunter of this class of animal would be palatable to our society. Maybe in another country where they don’t view this class of animal in the same way.
Third, I am totally in agreement that cats kill so many birds every year. We keep our cat indoors for this reason.
The Amazon rainforest itself is also not that much older than 10k years. In fact, there's some evidence that humans played a major role in its transition from grassland to jungle
https://www.everglades.org/early-formation/
>Only about 5000 years ago did South Florida’s climate take on its current sub-tropical and monsoonal character of dry winters followed by hot moist summers with large amounts of rain (on average 50-60 inches per year), as seas that surround it on three sides warm and evaporate.
This might be a bit gruesome, but why not shoot the snakes the on site? That seems way easier and faster than physically wrestling dangerous snakes sometimes bigger than yourself, throwing them in your truck, and shooting them in your garage. Is it just the solemnity? The chance of missing and it escaping and the difficulty of wrestling with a gun?
I think a gene drive will be cheaper than all of this manual labor.
Release a male python that can only sire male pythons, and population collapse is inevitable.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6083257/
They get paid per verified kill:
https://www.sfwmd.gov/our-work/python-program
No idea how it actually works but shooting them where they are has to be tough to verify.
It has to be easier to get a dead python into your truck than a live one, right?
Introducing natural predators for pythons like the king cobra might be a more scalable solution. It’s very hard to shoot all the members of an invasive species.
A wonderful work of late Terry Pratchett comes to mind:
“We got a bit carried away,” said Moist. “We were a bit too creative in our thinking. We encouraged mongooses to breed in the posting boxes to keep down the snakes…” Lord Vetinari said nothing. “Er… which, admittedly, we introduced into the letter boxes to reduce the number of toads…” Lord Vetinari repeated himself. “Er… which, it’s true, staff put in the posting boxes to keep down the snails…” Lord Vetinari remained unvocal. “Er… These, I must in fairness point out, got into the boxes of their own accord, in order to eat the glue on the stamps,” said Moist, aware that he was beginning to burble
The Simpsons did it first: https://youtu.be/3f5viRoaZNw?si=YcVu452gEypmYn6Q&t=72
Actually, I believe it was Australia that did it first.
I would be very surprised if someone didn't know of an ancient world example.
Old nursery rhyme precedes them all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Was_an_Old_Lady_Who_Swal...
You know what happened regarding cats as rabbit hunters in Australia?
Cane toads, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia
I learned this lesson as a kid via "Golly Gump Swallowed a Fly": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2807431-golly-gump-swall...
“No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.“
Had to go rewatch it on Youtube... Thanks for that good laugh...
Soon we'll be trying to telegraph just how much of a cultural phenomenon this show was, and come off like Abe.
I yell at clouds and I'm only in my 30s...
Are you a OneLogin customer? It was a rough week.
I think i read somewhere that people in snake infested areas like to have cobras in their villages as cobras prey on smaller venomous snakes.
Very well written article. Informative, sensible and articulate without going that New Yorker style that I find boring.
> without going that New Yorker style
What is that style, exactly?
I wonder why they're not using thermal cameras. Snakes are ectothermic, but they still show up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOL0RocIUI0
I was thinking about technological solutions.
Maybe some combination of cameras (thermal, traditional, maybe even Lidar) combining data and processing it to detect at least likely pythons.
It wouldn't have to be perfect, but I imagine such a solution could be more effective than even the most experienced and talented human python spotter.
Agreed – it feels like sending drones out the levee access roads they mention with thermal cameras would be their best bet.
Thought this was going to be a story on getting rid of python programmers. Disappointed.
I thought this was about a man with a grudge against the GIL.
Hey it’s not my fault my company chose Python!
"Oh, that Python!"
how do we know that the Florida python bounty doesnt repeat the Cobra effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive
I was thinking the same thing. However the article says they are only letting in select people and they are getting paid close to minimum wage.
I imagine it would not be worth the hassle of breeding and releasing pythons, and the character of the people they bring in to help is vetted as well.
It’s an hourly wage and the pay isn’t high enough to cover costs of breeding pythons.
A python can weigh over 200lb. It takes a lot to support a snake that big and they monitor sizes to ensure the catch matches what you would expect from a wild population.
It’s an hourly wage and the pay isn’t high enough to cover costs of breeding pythons.
"Allow me to introduce myself," says the VC.
You have to be licensed/hired for it
So worse, because that means there's a licensing department somewhere that wouldn't have jobs if the pythons went away completely.
Great article! That said,
...that doesn't sound so bad, when you put it like that. This is part of a bigger philosophical stance of mine: maybe the best course of action isn't "preserve nature exactly as we found it forever"? I definitely see the utility in ridding Florida of literal monsters, but in general, some of our fights against invasive species just seem... IDK, vain. Brazen. Arrogant. Like, they're considering an owl hunting program in the western US to protect the slower, shittier owls that already live there. What's the point? Will we have owl hunting season until the sun expands? ...surely drones, night vision, and guns could help solve this problem? I understand that snakes can "remain conscious" after injury, but wrestling the pythons into a cage so you can execute them in your garage seems like a step too far. Maybe I'm underestimating how hard it would be to shoot a snake?ETA: they do eventually reference "researchers using drones", so we're not the only ones to think of that. Not to rejoice in anyone losing their job of course, but I do hope that some automation makes this more feasible.
> ...surely drones, night vision, and guns could help solve this problem?
It takes an average of ten hours of searching per snake during which time they mostly drive around so I don’t think drones are a realistic option here due to flight time. There’s little benefit to searching far beyond the roads/levees because the swamp is a very tough terrain to navigate and it gets dangerous thanks to the gators.
Can’t use (real) night vision googles because any stray light from the car could blind the wearer and it would kill the driver’s peripheral vision making it impractical to drive.
> "preserve nature exactly as we found it forever"
It's not even "as we found it", it's "as it was at a certain arbitrary point in time". I've seen zero proposals to eliminate earthworms, honeybees, or dandelions from the Americas.
I'm fine with removing dandelions but good luck.
A single shot is unlikely to kill, and in these areas a snake can very quickly disappear into water or foliage. I doubt drones or night vision would help much for similar reasons - the issue lies as much in being able to reach the snakes as it does in being able to locate them. The Everglades are incredibly thick, a snake will easily outpace and hide from a human outside of roads. It does seem like there should be a better way than wrestling them but it's hard to say what that might be.
> A single shot is unlikely to kill
That's why they make guns that can load more than one bullet at a time. Also, maybe use a higher caliber bullet. Lot's of asinine pro-gun enthusiastic responses available for Florida man to retort with.
Python heads aren't exactly large and they are nocturnal. If it were easiest to just shoot them dead, that's exactly what they would be doing.
Controlling invasive species is not just some sentimental thing about preserving the purity of nature. Invasive species can massively destabilize an ecosystem- wiping out huge numbers of other species, and destroying natural resources humans depend on for economic livelihood. It is hard to predict the severity of the end point, so best to head it off as aggressively and early as possible.
I'm not necessarily opposed to eradicating invasive species, but natural ecosystems are seldom stable. Populations boom and crash all the time for other reasons.
That sounds to me like saying "there's no reason to put out this kitchen fire I accidentally started in my house, since lighting sometimes starts fires naturally."
Natural ecological events can certainly be difficult for humans to deal with, and even cause mass famine, etc. - but we have many more recent cases of ecological catastrophe caused by humans.
So when can we start writing articles glazing the US's most lethal cat hunters? They're an invasive species in most states and kill billions of native birds every year.
When you find enough suicidal people to establish “cat hunter” as a profession and they survive long enough to make it a competition.
Every cat lover with a gun would be out hunting them back.
The parent comment was created by dog people attempting to move the Overton window.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7076733/Catman-Kang...
I mean - we do sort of. We just TNR them (trap, neuter, release), because we don't have much appetite to euthanize fuzzy cute animals we see as pets.
Sadly, it looks like the program is struggling to find funding: https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/breaking-the-news/...
One of the most effective techniques we use for mosquito population control is to actually breed infertile mosquitoes and release them out in the wild. When mosquitoes breed they will end up laying infertile eggs
I wonder if we could do the same with other species or if the destructiveness pythons exhibit in their much longer lifespans makes this equation work out very differently
Well first, I think there would need to be cat hunters. I don’t think there are.
Second, we’ve decided as a society that a particular set of animals are ones we love and protect. Dogs, cats, horses, etc. So it’s very unlikely any hunter of this class of animal would be palatable to our society. Maybe in another country where they don’t view this class of animal in the same way.
Third, I am totally in agreement that cats kill so many birds every year. We keep our cat indoors for this reason.
So I was in the drainage ditch having a bit of opossum when this old lady rolls up in a blinged-out pickup and starts taking selfies.
> the Everglades and its web of life as we know it have existed for five thousand years.
Typo? Creationism? That seems like a very short period of time.
The Amazon rainforest itself is also not that much older than 10k years. In fact, there's some evidence that humans played a major role in its transition from grassland to jungle
https://www.everglades.org/early-formation/ >Only about 5000 years ago did South Florida’s climate take on its current sub-tropical and monsoonal character of dry winters followed by hot moist summers with large amounts of rain (on average 50-60 inches per year), as seas that surround it on three sides warm and evaporate.
Thats when the sea receded, so its "only" 5,000 years old after all.