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Burmese pythons devastating rabbit population in Everglades
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett
Thanks to the exotic pet trade, Burmese pythons have invaded Florida’s Everglades and it turns out – they have developed a taste for area rabbits.
According to a new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the python has become the main predator of marsh rabbits.
To determine the impact these snakes are having on the rabbit population, study researchers took rabbits from snake-free regions of the Everglades, fitted them with radio collars and mortality sensors, and dumped them off in snake-infested lands. The team saw that pythons were responsible for 77 percent of the animals’ deaths.
Exotic pets and hurricanes
Burmese pythons came to Florida through the exotic pet trade and ended up in the Everglades after being dumped or released there by owners, who either couldn’t or wouldn’t take care of the reptiles.
[STORY: Snake expert: Discovery 'Eaten Alive' special is appalling]
Snake expert Lisa Powers adds that, “…most of the python introductions can be traced back to Hurricane Andrew, which caused much damage to some facilities where pythons were housed, i.e. pet stores, exotic animal warehouses, zoos and private residences. While some animals were recovered, many were not.”
Observers have been noticing that mammal populations are dropping in the Everglades, and the study team said they wanted to see if invasive species were behind the decline. The result of the study show that, yes, pythons are indeed wiping out the rabbit population and could also be preying on the area’s other small mammals. All this predation by snakes is likely to have a significant negative effect on the regions other apex predator – the Florida panther.
The horse is halfway out of the barn door
Florida wildlife officials have enacted several programs designed to remove the snakes from the wild, including competitions like the Python Challenge. Federal officials are also taking steps to combat the threat, enacting a ban in 2012 that makes it illegal to move the animals across state lines.
[STORY: New fossils reveal snakes are older than we thought]
Powers disagrees with this course of action, though.
“Because these animals are long-lived and have the potential to have large clutches,” she wrote in an email to redOrbit, “they are now so well-established it will be difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate them from the wild here. The addition of Burmese pythons, Anacondas and reticulated pythons to the Lacey Act does little to alleviate the problem, and is very likely to add to the problem as people with pythons who want to re-home their snakes must now find willing owners within their home state, and can no longer legally cross state lines with this very common species. This restricts considerably the pool of potential responsible homes and if someone is moving out of state and cannot take their pythons with them they have few options; find a new home within their state, have it humanely euthanized, or release it to the wild.”
She concludes: “While it is alarming that the pythons are damaging native species, ‘the horse is already out of the barn and closing the barn door now doesn’t make much sense’.”
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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113356446/burmese-pythons-devastating-rabbit-population-in-everglades-032015/
