Florida invaded by Pythons

Florida is a state that is geographically positioned at the south east of United States of America which has beautiful geographical environment with wonderful national parks which serve as tourism attraction sites.  The South Florida hosts a large national park the Everglades national park which has vast animal reserves.

The Everglades Park is one of the largest reserves in the State of Florida.  The park preserves delicate ecosystem.  At the park, there is a river that drains to the Okeechobee and the ecosystem is built of marshes that are interconnected to form wetlands.  The reserve safeguards the endangered species of organisms of the Florida State. Evergladess environment is made up of a costal lowlands, estuarine environment, marine environment, cypress, mangrove, pineland, and tropical hardwood.   Some of the animals in the park include different species of birds, snakes, herbivores and carnivores among others.

The Everglades Park has many snake species including the python that is not only threatening the human life but also animals and crops.  The invasion of Florida by the elegant species of python called the Burmese python was initiated by discarding of unwanted snakes to the park by the snake firm owner.  This resulted in the ever increasing population of this snake such that it is endangering human life.

According to Bill Nelson, the Floridas senator, it was reported that on the 2nd July 2009, a baby was attacked and killed by a python in one of the estates at Orlando city.   It was all over in the news at Florida, that a child was killed by a python on the date indicated above. The child was a girl aged two years, and was found dead in her bed. The girl was confirmed dead by the medical examination officers as well as the report issued by the Florida spokesman on fish and wildlife conservation commission.  Shauiunna death of the python attack was a sad affair.

The pet firm owner said that he had taken to captivity an albino python snake which he dipped in one of his conservation ponds, the previous day in the evening, and it escaped at night.  When he searched for it in the morning, he found it on the girl and stumped it dead before calling the security officers.  This was a serious mistake and it provoked the wildlife officers to start up training programs on the management of snake handling.

The snakes are increasing at an alarming rate which needs to be checked, if Florida is to be safe from attack by these pythons.  The   Burmese python is said to feed on enormous amounts of food that scares the scientists who are already researching on them.  It is indeed a fast-growing species of snake which is doubling its population within a short time.

The invasion of the python is not only found in the south of Florida but also it is moving engulfing some potions of the north Florida.  After a persistent call by the Florida senator in the parliament for the fisheries and game reserves to check the fast growth of the snake, there is little progress in the same.  However, scientists in the research and academic centers and institutes are worried on the fast population growth of the python and are on their toes researching on the nature and characteristic of the snake that make it to increase at such a rate. It is already confirmed that scientists can now use thermal imaging to research on the body parameters of the python despite its being a poikilotherm. A university of Florida professor says that thermal imaging can be used to study this organism because they are able to keep their nests warm by shivering and this made them easily detected by the thermal imaging. The scientists are now enclosing the python species in a nursery to study their nature.  They are saying that the studies will not propagate the increase of the python since they are being carried out on the male species separate from the female.

Research confirms that the Burmese python is a heavy feeder and feeds most on pets, young ones of livestock, and young humans among others like white tailed dear. The snake type is threatening to overtake the native species of snakes and reports say that the native species are already endangered by the heavy feeders that have invaded the region. Although the invader is not poisonous, it has been found to kill their preys by suffocation or constriction after which it swallows the prey and then goes dormant from operations for some days.  The python interbreeds with the rock python to produces a more dangerous python species in terms of strength, although they are in most case infertile.

In conclusion, the Florida senators call to the extermination or reduction of the python spread and population increase should be hearkened to in order to reduce the risk of its damages both in the rural areas and in the nature trail environment as well as in the tourism sites.

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