Invasive Snakes

Captured python in Everglades National Park
America's ecosystem experts continue to flail in their attempts to correct the harm caused by invasive snakes.

After World War II, the brown tree snake was accidentally introduced into Guam from its native New Guinea and Australia. Within a few decades these snakes completely devastated the island’s bird life—causing the extinction of nine out of the 11 native species.

Within the last few years, a similar threat posed by the introduction of non-native giant snakes into the United States has become an increasingly large concern.

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC), one of the country’s leading conservation organizations, is joining in the fight to ban importation of several species of such snakes: reticulated pythons, green anacondas, boa constrictors, and two other non-native constrictor species. If ABC is successful, these snakes will be considered “injurious wildlife” and regulated by the Lacey Act.[…]

These snakes have already done sizable damage to Florida’s ecosystem. The Burmese python is estimated to have a Florida population in the tens of thousands. Some of the first in the area were bought as pets and then released in the wild where they rapidly multiplied.

Studies have shown that pythons are responsible for a severe decline in the populations of mid-size mammals, such as raccoons, opossums, and bobcats. They’ve even been known to eat alligators—which surely gives human park visitors cause for real concern.

I suggest that a bounty be offered for each dead snake. A reasonable level of remuneration would mobilize an army of snake hunters. Presto-change-o, problem solved.