FL Game Fish and Wildlife Conservation Holding Contest for Burmese

[brd7666]

The Gopher Tortoise is now protected from being plowed under by developers, thank goodness!

Maybe on paper. You don't know squat.

 

[snowgyre]

Show me evidence that my evidence is wrong, and then you are perhaps justified in saying that.

 

[brd7666]

Show me evidence that my evidence is wrong, and then you are perhaps justified in saying that.

I've lived here for 35 years, and I've watched it happen the whole time. Go back to the rock you crawled out from under.

 

[snowgyre]

Wow, in what past life have I offended you for you to act so rudely? I certainly hope you treat folks in real life with more respect than that you have shown here today. The old "I've lived here forever and you don't know squat" doesn't really hold much weight unless you have evidence. I'm a scientist, show me proof and I'll admit that I was misinformed. Until then, I will stand firm with the evidence that is presented to me. I can't tell you how many people who have "lived here forever" told me that brown water snakes are water moccasins or some other outrageous fallacy. I don't know you from Adam's cat, and you certainly haven't given me any reason to trust that you are informed on these issues.

It is a shame that Florida only lists the gopher tortoise as a species of special concern. I remember working with the guys down in Georgia at the Joseph J. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway. They are a poster child for fire managed systems. It's a lot easier to get people to protect tortoises than it is snakes (like eastern diamondback rattlesnake, indigo snake, etc.), but protecting tortoises does end up helping the native snakes too.

Back on topic though, I do hope they end up getting a few pythons, but I don't think they're going to be that successful for a variety of reasons. But heck, one less Burmese in the Everglades is a good thing. Next they need to start on all those cichlids down there, I saw more nonnative fish than native when I was there.

 

[brd7666]

Wow, in what past life have I offended you for you to act so rudely? I certainly hope you treat folks in real life with more respect than that you have shown here today. The old "I've lived here forever and you don't know squat" doesn't really hold much weight unless you have evidence. I'm a scientist, show me proof and I'll admit that I was misinformed. Until then, I will stand firm with the evidence that is presented to me. I can't tell you how many people who have "lived here forever" told me that brown water snakes are water moccasins or some other outrageous fallacy. I don't know you from Adam's cat, and you certainly haven't given me any reason to trust that you are informed on these issues.

It is a shame that Florida only lists the gopher tortoise as a species of special concern. I remember working with the guys down in Georgia at the Joseph J. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway. They are a poster child for fire managed systems. It's a lot easier to get people to protect tortoises than it is snakes (like eastern diamondback rattlesnake, indigo snake, etc.), but protecting tortoises does end up helping the native snakes too.

Back on topic though, I do hope they end up getting a few pythons, but I don't think they're going to be that successful for a variety of reasons. But heck, one less Burmese in the Everglades is a good thing. Next they need to start on all those cichlids down there, I saw more nonnative fish than native when I was there.

I don't care who you are, who you think you are, or who you want to be. And, I could care less about the negative karma you left me. You don't have a shred of evidence what so ever.

What the law states or what is suppose to happen is not necessarily reality. I've seen it, and I've lived it.

It is you that doesn't have a clue as to what reality is. Now, if you will, go find your rock.

 

[WebSlave]

I've lived here for 35 years, and I've watched it happen the whole time. Go back to the rock you crawled out from under.

Warning: That's enough, fella! That sort of crap towards another member is NOT welcome on this site, and is a fast ticket out of here if it continues.

 

[cajunreptiles]

The Gopher Tortoise is now protected from being plowed under by developers, thank goodness!

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...20416_1_move-tortoises-matt-aresco-relocation

Ultimately, all of our conservation issues boil down to too many people on the planet. We need to slow down on reproduction and become more sustainable in our practices, period. Wildlife wouldn't be suffering so badly if there was actually space for them left. The following image represents our current situation quite well.

we need to "slow down" what so you want the gov to tell us how many kids we can have thats BS and un-american, if that were to happen and we just let all the animals run wild then in the very near future there will be no humans. Yeah it sucks that the aniamls natural habitats were over run but you cant be to pro for it since you keep reptiles in cages thats not "the right thing"to do. i mean how would you feel being locked up in a cage all day and night and not able to do what you were born to do. Im from fl orginally and i dont have any exp with the wildlfe i.e. snakes being in my backyard and endangering me but i also left 8 yrs ago for the army so alot has changed since then. Drastic measures need to be taken for us to live safely instead of living in fear that our kids could get killed by a 20ft snake.

 

[ShadowAceD]

we need to "slow down" what so you want the gov to tell us how many kids we can have thats BS and un-american, if that were to happen and we just let all the animals run wild then in the very near future there will be no humans. Yeah it sucks that the aniamls natural habitats were over run but you cant be to pro for it since you keep reptiles in cages thats not "the right thing"to do. i mean how would you feel being locked up in a cage all day and night and not able to do what you were born to do. Im from fl orginally and i dont have any exp with the wildlfe i.e. snakes being in my backyard and endangering me but i also left 8 yrs ago for the army so alot has changed since then. Drastic measures need to be taken for us to live safely instead of living in fear that our kids could get killed by a 20ft snake.

... Lol.

Edit:

 

[JCCS]

we need to "slow down" what so you want the gov to tell us how many kids we can have thats BS and un-american, if that were to happen and we just let all the animals run wild then in the very near future there will be no humans. Yeah it sucks that the aniamls natural habitats were over run but you cant be to pro for it since you keep reptiles in cages thats not "the right thing"to do. i mean how would you feel being locked up in a cage all day and night and not able to do what you were born to do. Im from fl orginally and i dont have any exp with the wildlfe i.e. snakes being in my backyard and endangering me but i also left 8 yrs ago for the army so alot has changed since then. Drastic measures need to be taken for us to live safely instead of living in fear that our kids could get killed by a 20ft snake.

I'm not sure how to respond to this, honestly. There is so much ignorance spewed forth here that it is hard to grasp it all in one sitting. I mean, wow, just wow. I'm sure the Army is proud to have you representing them.

Chris

 

[cajunreptiles]

I'm sure the Army is proud to have you representing them.

Chris

yes the army is proud of what ive done lets see deployed to iraq-1 afhgan-1 hati-1 africa-1. I think its funny that i get down graded for being in the army and actually doing something with my life. I never disrepected you in any way shape or form. Alot of you think you rule the world cuz youve been on this site for almost 10 yrs. the only reason i havent been on here for that long is cuz i had more important things to do with my life then talking shit on a website.

 

[JCCS]

Who "downgraded" you for being in the Army? In a round about way, I was complimenting the Army. By the way, it's Afghanistan and Haiti. You sorta made my point a bit clearer with your retort. Have a nice day.

Chris

 

[ShadowAceD]

yes the army is proud of what ive done lets see deployed to iraq-1 afhgan-1 hati-1 africa-1. I think its funny that i get down graded for being in the army and actually doing something with my life. I never disrepected you in any way shape or form. Alot of you think you rule the world cuz youve been on this site for almost 10 yrs. the only reason i havent been on here for that long is cuz i had more important things to do with my life then talking on a website.

Actually, I just think you really need to educate yourself before responding to posts.

That's not an insult.

Your comment about human life being endangered by Burms in FL substantiates it enough to keep it from being insulting.

 

[cajunreptiles]

Actually, I just think you really need to educate yourself before responding to posts.

That's not an insult.

Your comment about human life being endangered by Burms in FL substantiates it enough to keep it from being insulting.

I was not saying that human life would be endangered just by berms. I said if we were to slow down on reproducing when thats what god put us on the earth to do, that would cause us to not exist. Also my comment wasnt even directed to you.

 

[JCCS]

I'm not sure how good you are at math, but we're reproducing at a pretty good clip. Even if you want to go the religious route, I'll play. We've been fruitful, we've multiplied. It's taken care of, we can back off now. I don't think we have to be concerned with the human race becoming extinct due to lack of reproduction anytime soon. That line of "logic" is just ridiculous.

Chris

 

[ShadowAceD]

I was not saying that human life would be endangered just by berms. I said if we were to slow down on reproducing when thats what god put us on the earth to do, that would cause us to not exist. Also my comment wasnt even directed to you.

God put us on Earth to reproduce? That's a new argument I have not heard, but that would be assuming I believe in God, which I do not.

Slowing down reproduction for sustainability would not wipe out the human race.

We "cull" other species all the time to keep them from overpopulating, we do not do the same to us because it is seen as barbaric, uncivilized, "un-American" and a bunch of asinine things when actuality, it would be responsible to slow down on the reproduction of more humans.

However, changing the mindset of the masses to see this likely will not happen and the destruction of the human race will be by the hands of the human race and we will be nothing more than a blip on the radar that is the vast wide universe and its existence.

The arrogance of man is blatantly shown in how he treats "lesser" animals.

 

[Outcast]

To the person that stated that we should send the burms back to where they are from, It is quite too late for that. Not only are there too many, and no one will want to pay for it. But, the simple fact that many (if not all) of the snakes in the everglades were born there, they now carry parasites and other microbes, that are not native to their homeland. Transferring them "back" to the country of origin and releasing them, will me introducing a microscopic invasive species, that may or may not have a devastating impact on various species native to that area. Why does no one think of this before releasing species into a new area, or transporting animals from one place to another?

Cajunreptiles, being a former military person myself, I urge you to do research on these subjects before commenting on them, being in the military does not excuse ignorance. It is obvious that you have not researched much on the topic. Also, a Google search is not the best thing to do, try looking for some actual scientific studies. I assure you that many of us commenting on this thread have done our research and do not pull punches, figuratively speaking.

 

[snowgyre]

Here are links to some peer reviewed scientific journal articles that I found with a five minute google scholar search. Most (if not all) of these you can only read the abstracts of, but they still contain a great deal of good information that is likely of interest to most folks here.

Full articles:
Final Report: Genetic characterization of populations of indigenous Burmese python in Everglades National Park (2008: Co-authored by Skip Snow, a stand-up guy I met in a conference in Miami a few years back)

Birds consumed by the invasive Burmese python (Python molurus bivitattus) in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA (2011)

Some interesting information of the back-and-forth that's been going on in the scientific community about possible range of Burmese python in the United States. I haven't read the full articles to provide a critique of methodologies on either side, I'll admit. Also note that due to the time some of these articles reside in review means that authors may not be able to see or respond to different models within a year of publication (for example, it took eleven months for my last journal article to go through the peer review process).

Claims of potential expansion throughout the U.S. by invasive python species are contradicted by ecological niche models (2008)

What parts of the US mainland are climatically suitable for invasive alien pythons spreading from Everglades National Park? (2009)

Cold weather and the potential range of invasive Burmese pythons (2010)

A critique of the analysis used to predict the climate space of the Burmese python in the United States by Rodda et al. (2008, 2009) and Reed and Rodda (2009) (2010): A word of warning about this article... it was published in the Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, which as far as publications go is extremely weak, thus I question the soundness of this critique. I have not read the entire article, but the explanation in the abstract was less than stellar.

Cold-induced mortality of invasive Burmese pythons in south Florida (2011)

 

[GMTIRRILL]

i believe that these hunts are a good thing it shows Florida trying too solve a state problem... as for total eradication of the Burmese i don't see it happening i kinda believe in the Jurassic park theory as life will find away and ether the small fuzzy creatures will adapt or die out simple as that. as for the human population well mother nature is a b@tch and sooner or latter the homo sapien species will have contend with it own predator and either we will adept to the predator or go extinct

 

[Outcast]

Snowgyre, here is another one. AbsoluteApril found it, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2490718/

 

[snowgyre]

Aaron and others, would it be worthwhile to create a thread where we can post these articles as they are published for easy reference for everybody? It would not be a discussion thread, simply a source of information. I think I may be one of the few on the forum who spends any amount of time perusing the primary literature, with the exception of Frank, the Bronx Zoo's retired herpetologist who recently joined here.