Rattlesnake Roundups, Texans, and Other Idiots
Billy Brown, a Philadelphia naturalist, discusses a recent New York Times article that glorifies idiots Texans who participate in “brutal” rattlesnake roundups:
Every now and then, usually at a party, someone mentions a news story they heard about crazy people in Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, maybe even Pennsylvania who catch lots of rattlesnakes and then throw big festivals.
They mean this in only the nicest way, but few topics set me off like the rattlesnake roundups. At this point in the conversation I take a deep breath and kindly explain that the roundups are brutal, savage, events in which thousands of rattlers are yanked out of burrows–many flushed out of burrows with gasoline, which kills all kinds of other small wildlife and pollutes the ground–then handled roughly and frequently injured as they’re dumped into huge heaps, tossed around in bagging contests, and then in the end get their heads chopped off.
Pet Owners Responsible For Spread of Invasive Pythons in FL; Snakes Destroying Ecosystems
It’s been widely known for some time that Burmese pythons are rapidly procreating in the Everglades, due in large part to the actions of pet owners who can no longer feed and care for the reptiles once they outgrow their cages. I’ve long been an advocate of banning these giant snakes from pet ownership in climates where they could be released and reproduce, and it seems like some (like Sen. Bill Nelson) may agree, but such legislation is probably a long way off after you factor in pet industry opposition. In the meantime, the python population in the Everglades is continuing its growth, and nobody really knows how to stop it. After we solve this problem, maybe we can look at all the other different species of exotic reptiles hat have made a home in the unusually hospitable Florida climate.
Burmese pythons continue to reproduce and spread into suitable habitat throughout Florida, and the invasive population can continue to spread into suitable habitat further north outside of the sunny state—especially if climate change continues to increase northern temperatures (e.g., the plant hardiness zone map has shifted as northern temperatures warm; for example, “the Southern magnolia, once limited largely to growing zones ranging from Florida to Virginia, now can thrive as far north as Pennsylvania. Or that kiwis, long hardy only as far north as Oklahoma, now might give fruit in St. Louis.”)
