Unintended Consequences

How they got there, nobody seems to know, but the fact is that Burmese Pythons have overtaken the Everglades. Some experts think there may be as many as 100,000, and they have no natural enemies. Instead, they are eating alligators, wading and songbirds, deer, raccoons, rats and mice - and changing the balance of nature.

The most popular theory is that several years ago a couple of people decided they could no longer cope with the snakes they were keeping as pets and turned them loose in the Everglades. When the two pythons found each other, the rest is history. I suspect that more than two people were involved and more than two snakes.

If south Florida had below freezing temperatures of some duration in winter, the pythons, which can grow to be more than 15 feet long, might die off. But temperatures less than 32 degrees typically occur only on a few winter nights and last only a few hours - not long enough to kill off large numbers of these huge snakes.

Attempts have been made in the past by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to conduct python hunts in the Everglades, but serious control won't happen if just a few uniformed guys hunt down and kill a few big snakes. The area where they can be hiding is vast, 1 1/2 million acres in Everglades National Park alone, and the snakes apparently are smart at eluding humans.

This weekend, a hunt for amateurs has been organized, with a prize of $1,500 going to whoever kills the most pythons. So far, 500 have signed up to take part. I hope they are alert enough to dodge the alligators.