The Problem Of Burmese Pythons Are Changing The Everglades

Under dark waters lurks a 20 foot monster ready to attack. This monster is the Burmese python and they are taking over the Everglades. Before you know it, they might end up in your very own backyard. There are many ways the presence of the Burmese pythons are changing the Everglades. These snakes have caused many problems for the animals and ecosystem in south Florida. Although many solutions have been tried, nothing so far has worked.

To begin with, in order to understand how dangerous this animal is, one must first know a little about the Burmese Python. The looks off a python may fool you. A python may look to be venomous but they are not. But how would they kill their prey? Pythons can open their jaw and fit a animal five times their

Sadly this whole problem was started by humans. This exotic pets we brought here because greedy pet store owners want to sell them to uneducated pet owners. All the pet store owners want is money and are not worried about the repercussions. Those who buy these animals don’t know how to take care of them and the snakes grow larger than they expected. So the owners don’t know what to do so they release them into the wild. The problems will continue to get worse with the pythons living near the water. According to source 7, “the pythons now have another hiding spot which will make it hard to find them”. Now they have another food source from the animals that lives in that water. Believe it or not, these snakes can actually swim too! This makes them even harder to locate. With some rivers they connect to the ocean and the pythons can swim to islands and take over them just like they took over the everglades. Additionally, some water bodies connect with the sewers which means the pythons can possibly end up in your house though your sinks and toilets. To make matters worse, the python is incredibly difficult to destroy.. “With a pythons small head it is very hard to kill them” (Source 6) This is making it almost impossible to control the population. Also not everyone is trained to cut off a snake's head. It is dangerous to reach for a snake's head because it can bite you. You really have one shot because if

One solution the state of Florida has tried is the python patrol. The python patrol is a group that has been created to stopped the python population from growing with a goal of lowering the population. Most of the things they have tried is not working. “They have tried training people to kill the pythons but the are to many to kill pythons for the small group they have” (Source 7). They are going to continue to find something that will solve the problem. If they don’t find a solution that will work then the python population will keep on growing. Another solution we have tried but has also failed is the python challenge. The python challenge is a challenge where people go into the everglades and kill the pythons and win a prize. “If you kill the most pythons you win $1,500” (source 2). The problem is most people don’t know have to handle the animals. If they miss the snake when they are trying to kill it, someone could be hit with a bullet. Also python are big and they can eat or hurt you and as already stated, they are extremely hard to find in the first place.. This could end up doing more harm than good if hunters are injured in the process.I think they should try to have them caught the snakes and store them in a cage because some people are scared to kill animals. They they should try to set up traps because they can’t spend all day and night trying to kill them. The challenge is causing more