Biologist battles killer pythons in Florida park

The man leading efforts to eradicate giant Burmese python snakes from Everglades National Park sounds almost fearful, and certainly not optimistic, when he talks about the chances of wiping out an invasive species he calls าthe enemyำ.

That is partly because Skip Snow, a 54-year-old veteran wildlife biologist with the US National Park Service, says he doesnีt know how many of the slithery monsters are in the swampy Florida park.

าIt could be literally thousands,ำ Snow told Reuters. าIt could be a number I donีt want to know. It could be scary.ำ

Itีs scary indeed, especially since one of the creatures was aggressive enough to try devouring a 1.8-metre alligator in the park last year. The alligator is believed to have been dead already and the snake also died trying to digest it.

There have been other encounters between pythons and alligators but the gators, which are pretty tough customers, arenีt what Snow is worried about.
What keeps him up at night is the threat the prowling pythons pose to a delicate subtropical wildlife haven with a whole catalogue of rare or endangered native species.

The pythons, with their razor-sharp teeth, have been eating practically everything that moves in the park, from small mammals to large wading birds, said Snow.

The first Burmese pythons sighted in the parkีs savannah and steamy swamps, back in the mid-1970s, are thought to have been pets.

The snakes, which are native to Southeast Asia, can be purchased legally in the United States. But many owners, especially so-called impulse buyers, tend to release them in places like the Everglades once they realise they can grow from just 30 cm to about 3.6 metres long in their first two years of life.