Jim Loney, Reuters, October 14, 2009
Burmese pythons and other giant snakes imported as pets could endanger some of America’s most important parks and wilderness areas if they are allowed to multiply, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Wildlife experts say the Burmese python is distributed across thousands of square miles (kilometers) in south Florida. There could be tens of thousands in the Everglades, a wildlife refuge that is home to the Florida panther and other endangered species.
The Burmese python and four other non-native snakes—boa constrictors, yellow anacondas, northern and southern African pythons—are considered “high-risk” threats to the health of U.S. ecosystems because they eat native birds and animals, the U.S. Geological Survey report said.
Two species, the boa constrictor and Burmese python, have already established breeding populations in south Florida and experts have found “strong evidence” that the northern African python may be breeding in the wild as well.
{snip}
Florida wildlife officials say the Everglades wetland is a dumping ground for pet owners who find their snakes too large to handle when they mature. They eat birds, reptiles, rodents and other small mammals and are considered a major threat to endangered species like the wood stork and Key Largo woodrat.
GIANT SNAKES
“This report clearly reveals that these giant snakes threaten to destabilize some of our most precious ecosystems and parks, primarily through predation on vulnerable native species,” Robert Reed, a USGS invasive species scientist, said in a statement.
{snip}
State wildlife managers recently allowed hunters to kill invasive snakes. Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress to ban the importation of some constrictors and the Humane Society of the United States recently said it supported laws to stop the importation of and trade in large reptiles.
Original article
(Posted on October 16, 2009)
Comments
I have a brother-in-law who has these constrictors in cages throughout his house.
How anybody could stand to see some disgusting, worthless dinosauer era creature suffocate a little animal is beyond me. They have less intelligence than a fish, and the people who buy them and get a kind of sick glee in feeding them are just as disgusting as the snakes.
I live in Florida. I just killed a big, fat rattlesnake not 30 feet from my back door. I filled his head with buckshot from a 38 caliber snakeshot shell.
If I see a constrictor anywhere around, I’ll be more than happy to do him the same favor.
It’s always a problem when an animal, or any other living thing, coming from a foreign ecosystem is artificially introduced in another ecosystem. The balance of such a system is threatened, and the whole system may be under stress.
They may have to destroy those exotic snakes before they do too much damage!
More benefits of 3rd world immigrants…now it is destroying our ecosystems..
We need to change our immigration laws to start off with and constantly ask “Is it good for Whites” in everything we do or who we allow in this nation. After all, it is OUR nation.
In my small town (pop.7000) we have a rapidly growing population of Hispanics, many illegal. Along with the increased crime, we have had all the major indicators. Car accidents caused by illegal Hispanic drunk drivers, illegals who attacked, raped and mutilated a local girl, full-on Hispanic businesses, sections of town that look like they were lifted right out of the heart of Mexico complete with gangs, etc. I know the animal control officer very well and he says you wouldn’t believe all the iguanas he has been called to catch.
Interesting. I would never own such a large snake, but I wonder if this isn’t a little bit of hysteria. Such snakes are ectothermic and do not eat very often. The large constrictors might only feed once a month. The snake eggs and their hatchlings would seem to be tasty meals for many local mammals, birds, and reptiles. Heck, the redtail hawk would polish off any hatchling it could catch. It would seem that a large percentage of the snakes would be eaten before they could reach a large size.
Compare this with human immigrants-they produce ‘anchor babies’ as soon as possible, they receive special rights and considerations not granted to native born whites, abuse the healthcare and welfare systems, depress wages, introduce and impose alien languages, etc., etc.
I’ll trade human immigrants for pythons any day. A couple of pythons around my apartment might bump off the feral cats, rats, opposums, squirrels, and so on that dig through my garbage cans
Poor things.
This is largely the fault of irresponsible and mostly white pet-owners. Having spent several years in this business, I can tell you that black and Hispanic reptile owners are close to nil.
However, Americans may (hopefully) learn a valuable lesson in all of this: Indigenous species (races) are indigenous species and have no place outside of their natural environment. We’ve learned this lesson all too well with both blacks and Hispanics.
Slavery was the greatest mistake the white man ever took part in, even though it was essentially “the way she goes” at that time. Hindsight being 20/20, it is obvious that blacks don’t belong in Western society and they really don’t know what to do other than resort to their natural, primal instincts.
Such is the case with these poor animals, although I feel far sorrier for them than I do other “introduced” races.
These exotic, and dangerous, creatures should be completely illegal. Who needs them? Why would anybody want them?
Did everyone see the recent article about the baby in Florida that was eaten by the family python which got out of its cage in the night? The python was only doing what pythons do. It was finding itself a tasty midnight shack. The fools responsible should be presecuted for murder! Who but total idiots would keep a python in a house with a baby?
And did everyone see the pictures of the Everglades python that burst while trying to swallow an alligator?!!! Imagine if it had been a human.
Anyone who imagines a python would make a nice “pet” has got to be a very sick individual! Such nuts should not be indulged in their lunacy. We don’t need pythons, anacondas and boa constrictors in this country. We enough problems with illicit human imports as it is.
I used to work at a pet store. Every once in a while a minority person would come in bragging about how they caught a snake or other poor creature(usually it was a snake) and that they needed a tank and other supplies for it. I’d tell them to take the animal back to where they found it and let it go, or call animal control to take it. After much debate with the person I would eventually show them what they would need to take care of whatever it was they caught. This was all based on my general knowledge and experiance of reptiles since more than likely they had no idea of the species and couldn’t even give me a basic description of the color of the animal. I figured by showing them how complicated it was to take care of it they’d do the right thing and call animal control. Usually they stormed out saying I was an idiot and that I was just trying to sell them garbage to make money. Long story short I have a feeling that the majority of these animals in this article are released by such people and through illegal animal trades.
The park services often note that African Americans make little use of national park facilities and reservations.
The proliferation of large serpents in these areas could help to preserve this happy status quo, since blacks, with their almost primal terror of snakes, simply will not go there at all upon hearing that they might wake up next to a Burmese python.
If we could only train them to hunt down and consume the illegals growing pot in our forests and natonal parks…
No one wants to think the unthinkable and that is these new snakes, insects and plants are deliberatly being introdued in to the US by foreign terrorists. In New Jersey I have seen numerous strange insects that I have never seen before. Many are attacking trees and crops. There is a new virus that has destroyed New Jersey’s tomato industry (hello India tomatos).
Idiots who buy such exotic pets which are alien to the native environment and wild-life are short sighted selfish individuals who do not have the right to live in a free society. That goes for employers who import exotic workers too.
2 — François wrote at 7:56 PM on October 16:
“It’s always a problem when an animal, or any other living thing, coming from a foreign ecosystem is artificially introduced in another ecosystem. The balance of such a system is threatened, and the whole system may be under stress.
They may have to destroy those exotic snakes before they do too much damage!”
Have to disagree with poster # 6….I see mostly Mexicans and South Americans here that indulge in this sort of thing. Not to mention ASIANS!!
Now if we could just figure out how to limit their diet to illegal aliens.
“I’ll trade human immigrants for pythons any day. A couple of pythons around my apartment might bump off the feral cats, rats, opposums, squirrels, and so on that dig through my garbage cans.”
Yes, AND little children and defenseless little pets. I wouldn’t trade one deadly threat for another.
And the little “feral” cats were somebody’s pet at one time and were abandoned by a sizeable contingent of white trash in this country who take their little pets out in the country and let them go, because they don’t want them anymore.
A country that has to kill millions of little homeless pets every year is a country that doesn’t deserve to exist.
“Invading Giant Snakes Threaten U.S Wilderness Areas.”
Just as dangerous are the alligators, yet it’s still illegal to kill them in Florida without a permit.
I have two ponds on my place, and have had 4’ to 5’ alligators CLIMB my fence (Yes, “climb.” They are able to climb fences until they get too large to do so. Supposedly, up to 6 feet.)
However, I almost tripped over one in the woods at the front of my place one day that was 7 feet long. When I first saw the tail from a distance, I thought somehow one of these big semi retreads had come off and flipped over my fence.
I’ve had a total of about 4 venture onto my property. Every one of them died of a heart attack or something similar, I suspect, because they’re not around anymore.
I understand big snakes and poisonous ones are prone to heart attacks also.
However, Americans may (hopefully) learn a valuable lesson in all of this: Indigenous species (races) are indigenous species and have no place outside of their natural environment.
Such is the case with these poor animals, although I feel far sorrier for them than I do other “introduced” races.
What nonsense! Who’s kidding anybody with such an ineffectual argument? We Europeans are an “introduced race” that replaced the indigenous one. You can’t call blacks an introduced species (and certainly not Hispanics!) without applying the same label to whites. If you’re going to use that silly excuse, it won’t hold any water. We have to do better than that. There are plenty of good arguments on our side, but yours isn’t one of them!
blacks, with their almost primal terror of snakes, simply will not go there at all upon hearing that they might wake up next to a Burmese python.”
I don’t know where people get the notion that all blacks are afraid of snakes. Maybe some are. But I know a black woman who is absolutely terrified of a mouse or a rat. Even a squirrel. Yet, she has often said that a snake doesn’t faze her in the least. To her, a snake is just nothing. But she’ll be up on a chair, screaming, if someone says there’s a mouse in the room.
I remember reading last year that Piranhas had shown up in North Carolina rivers which alarmed me because I live in Virginia but like to go to NC frequently for water recreation. Fortunately, they can’t survive the temperatures that rivers this far north reach during the winter. Still, one would hope people would think before dumping such creatures where they don’t belong.
To browser
Maybe you need to read some factual history of America if you think we are the “invading race”. Kennewick man? I am sick and tired of the lies and how the “noble indians” were the first here and that “we” decimated the poor souls…this would never have been known as America (USA) if we did not come to build it in the first place! You think that if we didn’t that the Chinese or some other race would not have invaded and taken over? Just thank your lucky stars it was the White man! I know some Indians that feel the same way. They are thankful that it is Whites and not some other race that took over as they sure don’t want to be ruled by the brown or black race.
What nonsense! Who’s kidding anybody with such an ineffectual argument? We Europeans are an “introduced race” that replaced the indigenous one. You can’t call blacks an introduced species (and certainly not Hispanics!) without applying the same label to whites. If you’re going to use that silly excuse, it won’t hold any water. We have to do better than that. There are plenty of good arguments on our side, but yours isn’t one of them!
I think a point could be made that whites are much closer to being an Indigenous species to the type of latitude and climate present over most of North America. Not too mention there are now theories out there which suggest the clovis people of North America actually traveled here from Europe anyway along the ice sheets and not over some land bridge from Asia which makes North America more an extension of the European hunting grounds of pre-history. If this is true than American Indians are more of an isolated tribe like say the Basque race which was just seperated from the White tribes by natural means.
Also there was alot of white race influx into North America from the time of recorded history and before that it is theorized as well. Enough that a good argument could be made that the area of North America was as much an area for white expansion as Russia became.
The animals that live in North America are much the same as the ones which are in Euprope (or were). There are alot that are different of course but not as different as what you see between say Africa, South America and Australia.
The White race had a long history in North America before Columbus tried to sail to China. Much longer than any pro diversity freak will admit to.
“disgusting, worthless dinosauer era creature”
Snakes are very important in keeping down the numbers of rodents, which is why deadly species are tolerated in India.
The offence caused to clueless whites through candid outspokenness about race is NOTHING compared to the outrage caused by insulting their animals, dogs, cats, snakes, whatever.
All they need to do is put a modest bounty on these snakes and they will be erradicated in short order, but that would be too simple and cost efficient.
21 — Anonymous wrote at 9:57 AM on October 18:
“Maybe you need to read some factual history of America if you think we are the “invading race”. Kennewick man? I am sick and tired of the lies and how the “noble indians” were the first here and that “we” decimated the poor souls…”
My statement was that we are not INDIGENOUS to this continent. Nor are the African blacks. (To be precise, neither are the Indians.) It’s just a fact. We all came from elsewhere — from the Old World, no matter what part. In biological terms, we (humans) are an “invasive species” which has had an enormous effect on the ecology of this hemisphere. We have caused the extinction of entire species. Do you know the meaning of the word “indigenous”?
“You think that if we didn’t that the Chinese or some other race would not have invaded and taken over?”
In fact, I have said exactly that, if not here then in some other post, and quite recently too. I’ve said it more than once. Save your wrath for an appropriate cause!
One of the curses of a movement such as this is that it attracts some half-educated people who are so narrow-minded that they are unable to see all sides of an issue. Very rarely are things all strictly black or white. I have no problem at all with accepting that I am not “indigenous” to the American continent. If you claim that you are, then you are not dealing with reality. And Kennewick man has nothing to do with it. He wasn’t our ancestor and he wasn’t “indigenous”.
And yes, we whites built the USA, no denying it, but I never
Anyway, what does all of this have to do with importing giant snakes that are out of their ecological niche and destroy the local wildlife???
I don’t in the least like snakes… Giant size OR economy-size. But they’re a hundred times more preferable than Mexican [illegal] immigrants.
“All they need to do is put a modest bounty on these snakes and they will be erradicated in short order”
Browser is right, NO ONE is actually indigenous to this hemisphere since all can be traced back to the Eastern Hemishpere. But if we go by that rule, we also have to accept the Out of Africa theory and that we are all Africans! It’s a slippery slope. We have to draw the line somewhere in determining who has a claim to nativity. IMO, since the consideration of this is a modern one, due to the politics engendered by the basic problem of human over-population, we can create a historical line(s) approximately where they have usually been drawn, as in a series of modern epics that begin at the end of the ancient world up to the modern era and marked by the people who created the means and took the risks in order to bring the entire world into its own self knowledge. By this I mean that it was Europeans who actually made sense of the geography of the world and tied it together intelligently. Before this, people wandered and hardly ever wondered where they were in relation to the rest of the world. This has to be what divides the knowing from the unknowing, the useful from the useless, etc. But it is what we do once we have this knowledge that matters. I have always hoped for better management overall. Perhaps we have reached our capacity to affect our destiny and what we are seeing is the inevitable collapse of humanity due to its failure to manage itself?
In such a climate, it becomes natural for groups to identify by race as civilization fails and we begin to “fall back.” I hope that we whites can do this in an intelligent way that does not simply repeat some of our worst historical convulsions, because we cannot afford it.
I am very curious,as to who allowed these things into US in the first place-I always thought the federales were protecting us from such things…
In early 70’s I lived near the town of Mojave,Ca by Edwards Air Base.
I love how a story about snakes turned into an argument over the geographic origins of the races. That’s why I love this site!
“To this very day I can’t understand why some people keep animals like deadly Mojave Greens in their homes? “
No sane or normal person has any reason to keep giant or deadly snakes in their home. It’s just sick.
