Periodically we all see things in the news about invasive pythons in the Everglades. The Washington Post had a piece about the problem today and I was asked about the issue by several students after delivering a guest lecture on invasive species to a class at the University of Virginia this morning.I did not include pythons or anacondas in 'Eating Aliens', though I had originally intended to devote a chapter to them. The reason for this is that the rules on both state and federal land for hunting them are simply too restrictive to have much of a chance of actually getting one. If I spent a full week sloshing around in the Everglades trying to bag a python then the odds are overwhelmingly against my succeeding in having a dead python to eat and write about. I just can't afford that and neither could very many of my readers. I ended up focusing on hunting other invasive species during my several trips to Florida.
According to Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, hunters who participate in the python permit program aren't allowed to actually kill the pythons:
Firearms and traps may not be used. The snakes can be captured by hand, with nets or snares. Pythons may be euthanized onsite by approved means, deposited at a location for euthanizing by a veterinarian, or transported to an approved facility to be used in research.
The rules of engagement on federal land are even more restrictive. During the entire inaugural six week season for pythons in the Everglades in 2010, not a single python was taken. Not one.
I understand that they want whole, undamaged pythons to take samples from and to study. It is good to do the science. But the science must not be allowed to stand in the way of killing the invasive species.
I have found again and again on the ground around the US that scientific research often becomes a direct impediment to removing invasive species. The people making the rules for the hunting tend to have some vested interest in having the science continue even at the cost of solving the problem*.
In the Back Bay Federal Wildlife Refuge, Virginia, researchers are allowing feral pigs to rapidly multiply even though there are scads of hunters ready to kill them year-round. They have token managed hunts (I have participated in several, including this first one for me in 2009), but little scouting is allowed, weapons are limited to the most ineffective, and all of the hunters are dumped out on the refuge in a confused horde on a very few days. The explanation for this from a USDA biologist on the site was that they didn't want hunters getting in the way of the people who are researching the problem; which to my mind is sort of like denying antibiotics to a syphilis patient because the doctor doesn't want to lose the business.
The only practical way to deliberately remove an invasive animal is to hunt and kill the animal relentlessly. That is the only thing that works. More studies will not remove the pythons. Public outreach will not remove pythons. Media coverage will not remove pythons. The only thing that will work is to kill them relentlessly wherever and whenever they can be found in Florida. So long as the season is limited, so long as the use of firearms is prohibited, and so long as huge chunks of wild land is off-limits to hunters of invasives, this problem is not going to go away.
You want my prediction? This problem is not going to be solved. Because what we really have, as is usually the case with invasive species, is just not a problem with giant snakes that eat everything in sight. It is a problem with human beings and with bureaucracy. And hardly anyone in a position of power cares enough to actually change anything. Some of the people we have trusted to handle the problem are standing directly in the way. If you remove the problem then there isn't anything to study any more and the funding would disappear.
The problem is a giant snake all right. A metaphorical snake. An enormous Ouroboros devouring its own tail. A problem that must exist for the sake of pretending to solve it. The pigs that hunters are not allowed to kill because the hunting could present a danger to the researchers who are studying the grave danger of the pigs in order to present findings that will justify more grants to study the problem and thus produce reports that justify more grants to study the problem... ad infinitum.
*This is by no means always the case. I have met some really devoted and talented scientists who are doing very practical field work towards eradicating invasive species. In particular I would point out the work of Duane Chapman of the USGS to rid American rivers of silver carp.
[The above photo is not my own and I presume it to be the copyright of the Sapporo Maruyama Zoo in Japan, where this snake (which is not even a python) is kept. If the copyright holder would like me to remove the image then please just let me know. I cannot make heads or tails of the site, which is in Japanese, and I can't figure out who to ask for permission to use the image.]
4 comments:
I found (and then was obliged by law to let go about its business) - my first Florida python in 2009 the story and some pictures of which is here:
http://tai-haku.blogspot.com/2009/11/finally-florida-pythons.html
What I'd offer up on the situation is this:
1 - if you're thinking about eating these I'd be pretty worried about their mercury levels.
2 - the snakes aren't going to spread very far due to cold issues; we can be pretty sure of this because of the research that has been done.
3 - finding these things effectively is not a way of operating that lends itself to lots of people doing it. The number of potentially rare species that could suffer if people try inappropriately is also significant (panther roadkill, misidentified snake species (you only need to look at how many people kill every water snake because they think it's a moccasin to ponder the likelihood of everglades rats being killed as albino pythons)
4 - this is actually a pretty significant animal for inexperienced well meaning people to try and kill on their own. It could go pretty badly wrong.
5- research into their breeding behaviour and the use of jonah snakes (both of which could be damaged by a public hunt) may well yield far more effective controls than the public killing individuals.
With all that said I can totally understand the frustration you express
To Tai:
1. I agree, but I'd bet the skin would make some lovely leather. Alternately, bounties work well for this. And if we get to killing a bunch of them, the little ones are probably OK to eat, and likely tenderer to boot.
2. They aren't going to threaten the rest of the country, but the Everglades is a national treasure that they could severely damage.
3. I agree there's a risk to killing the wrong snake species, but the people who are liable to kill such snakes are, frankly, probably already killing them, whether there's a season for pythons or no. The people who would really make a dent in the snake population would be dyed-in-the-wool hucklebucks and probably quite competent at identification.
4. They're real big and unpleasant, I'm sure, but the people killing them would, mostly, be folks whose other pastimes include killing feral hogs, alligators and bears. We allow the hunting of moose and grizzly bear. Particularly if we allow hunters to use shotguns, these things should be markedly less of a problem.
5. Think about all the things we've eradicated or extirpated in the country's history (that is, all the things we're trying frantically to protect or bring back.) Wolves, big bears, cougars and so forth got taken out by relentless hunting because we didn't like them. Passenger pigeons, eastern elk and eastern bison got hunted out because they were delicious. Western bison were hunted out for economic and policy reasons. Hawks saw numbers hunted low because they were predators, then faced an inadvertent chemical attack from DDT. I can't think of a single invasive species we've successfully eliminated with a convoluted plan carried out by officials. That may, in part, be because we've never really needed one. We're good at killing stuff.
Tai,
1. I absolutely agree with you about the mercury issue. I do not think that these snakes make sense as an on-going food source.
2. I also agree with you about the cold issue. These snakes won't take over the continent. But its not just about the snakes spreading. The damage that they are doing right where they already are is serious enough to merit action.
3. My preferred approach to removing pythons from parks and wildlife refuges would be to give a lot of local hunters 24/7 access to hunt, year-round, but to require that those hunters each be individually qualified through a training program that includes testing them on snake identification in the field. They would be certified volunteers. I feel the same way about dealing with pigs in Back Bay, incidentally.
4. American hunters hunt all sorts of dangerous game as it stands. In different parts of the country we're out there dealing with bears, coyotes, alligators, mountain lions, wild boar, etc. Hunting pythons has its own unique challenges and set of tactics but I don't believe that it is any more dangerous than all sorts of other things that we hunt. We know that this stuff is dangerous and we're ok with that. Sometimes we get hurt but its a risk that we are already in the habit of accepting.
A load of #5 bird shot to the head from a shotgun or pistol and then hang back a while until the body stops reflexively moving. I don't think that the hunt needs to be all that dangerous. The greater danger is probably just the risks that go along with wandering around in the Everglades for any reason.
5. That research might very well lead to good controls but 'might' isn't a good enough reason to have rules that prevent effective eradication. Killing them definitely works. Other things might. I'm in favor of having certain areas cordoned off for research only, where Judas snakes and other such experiments can be conducted. Those areas should be the exception, though, and not. the rule.
Good for you, by the way, for going out there in person to photograph the pythons!
Very topical, for some reason the past couple of weeks have been Pythons in Florida weeks, NPR had a piece and somewhere else I read about them, maybe the Times.
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