The water source that creates the Everglades is predominately from rain which is unlike the classic river flooding seen to create other famous wetlands such as the Okavango delta or the Pantanal in Brazil
PHOTOGRAPH BY Pisa photography
Florida’s wetlands are being decimated by the introduction of an invasive reptile species from across the other side of the world, now bounty hunters, biologists and locals unite to tackle the threat.
Florida’s prized Everglades are a meandering connection of swamps, ponds and subtropical wetlands which stretch 1.5 million acres across the southern state. These wetlands are undoubtedly acclaimed not only in the USA but worldwide for being one of the earth’s most iconic habitats. Made famous by its monstrously sized alligators and quirky fan boats, the Everglades are recognized alongside revered wetlands such as the Okavango delta in Botswana and the Pantanal of Brazil.
Wading through the wetland’s waters are numerous species of Amphibians, Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles which all call this refuge home. Florida panthers illusively stalk between the weaving saw grass as archaic alligators lay sovereignty over the water’s banks and an excess of 360 bird species nest, taking wing to the skies above.
If you live in Florida then your dependence on food, water and shelter is integrally linked to the reliance on the healthy functioning of the Everglades. One-third of Florida’s drinking water is directly derived from the waters of the wetlands which thankfully filters out pollutants and excess nutrients. Moreover, the wetlands provide irrigation for the majority of the state’s agriculture as well as reducing flooding in Florida’s thriving urban cities such as Miami.
Despite our assured awareness of the indispensable role that the wetlands play, Florida’s Everglades are under attack. Encroaching threats from the call of urbanisation, poor water management and agricultural expansion have tragically shrunk the Everglades to half their original size. The direct unsustainable drainage for agriculture alone has severely exacerbated fire risk and dust storms in the habitat. Unfortunately, the remaining Everglades have recently faced an exceptionally unique threat, introduced by us from across the other side of the world.
In 1979 locals first sited this introduced reptile in the outer everglades, now the species population has exploded conjuring harmful consequences for the habitat. The answer to how this species escaped to conquer this ecosystem lies in the pet trade. Transported from the Southeast Asian jungles of Myanmar to the urban sprawl of Miami, these snakes found themselves in a thriving hub for exotic pet trade. With its lax biosecurity measures and previously established private ownership laws, Florida’s pet trade for these species was lucrative and flexible.
In line with Florida’s flashy style, it was predictable that Floridians would pay for the slickest most compelling animals. However, when a small snake turns out to grow over 20 feet and weigh an unnerving 200 pounds this urgently becomes a lot of time, money, and sacrifice of peace of mind. This is exactly what happened with the Burmese python.
Many pet owners quickly realized that these snakes became too strenuous and expensive to care for, naively releasing their former pets to the surrounding vulnerable Everglades. Now we are faced with a thriving unknown population that could be over 100,000 in number. With their appetite for local wildlife, high reproductive ability, and the possibility of spreading to additional states, how do we deal with this present threat?
Native to Southeast Asia the Burmese python is the second largest snake species in the world after the green anaconda.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Heiko Kiera
Burmese pythons are generalist apex predators meaning they will eat pretty much anything that they can, but primarily they feed upon small mammals and birds. Since their introduction, the snakes have decisively outcompeted the native wildlife which is bountiful in these exact species. From 2003-2011 the frequency of raccoons observed decreased by 99.3% along with a decrease of 98.9% for opossums and 87.5% for bobcats. For at least 16 million years Florida has not had a snake large enough to tackle medium-sized mammals leaving these species naive and totally unadapted to deal with the voracious constrictors. These entirely unaware species commonly forage along the water’s edge, the prime microhabitat for ambushing pythons.
To fully understand the diversity of the snake’s diet, caught pythons often undergo a necropsy in the lab. Alligator claws, undigested bird feathers, bobcat claws and hoof cores from white-tailed deer are just a taste of what the snakes have been devouring. As more species are decimated in the Everglades other top predators such as alligators and the Florida panther may find it progressively more strenuous to secure a meal.
Conservancy Biologist Ian Easterling performs a necropsy inside the Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s Edith G. and Edward J. Andrew Ecology lab.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Conservancy of Southwest Florida
Python's impact on the Everglades over a short time span is closely attributed to it's high reproductive potential. During the mating season from December to March, female pythons can produce a clutch of up to 100 eggs. Additionally, the snakes have an impressive life span of 20-25 years under favourable conditions. This is also coupled with the python’s lack of natural predators to check the population. Occasionally an alligator will feed on a python, but in return, larger pythons are seen to strike back eating alligators. When we imagine the potential of 100 new snakes that can live 20 odd years with little to no predation, we start to appreciate how rapidly this problem escalated and the severe complications which could further unfold for the fragile ecosystem.
Scientists are further worried about if the snakes will have the capability to spread to other regions or even states. Pythons have been found on the outer reaches of the Everglades far from their established home on the southern tip of the peninsula. Despite this, studies have shown that many pythons can’t survive the cold periods in northern parts of Florida lending doubt to their ability to spread. Either way, the problem of the pythons in the Everglades remains to leave locals, scientific experts and conservationists asking, what do we do?
A hefty alligator and a Burmese python encounter a battle for survival in the Florida Everglades.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Lori Oberhofer
The simple objective for everyone is to remove them but how that is conducted and what to do with them once caught lends for varying suggestions amongst the Florida community. In 2017 the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) funded the python elimination programme hiring its very own python bounty hunters to jump into the swamps and tackle the beasts all year round. Incentives were added on top of the hourly wage, 50 dollars for bagging a snake along with 25 dollars extra for each foot of the snake over 4 feet and a 200-dollar bonus for discovering an active nest.
The Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida took the idea of getting locals involved in hunting a step further creating the yearly Florida python challenge. Every year hunters from all over America, trained and novice, enter a 10-day frenzy to capture as many pythons as possible looking to grab the overall $10,000 prize for the most caught. Due to covid-19, all training for catching them is given online which mainly consists of fearlessly jumping on their head as quickly as you can without getting bitten. Luckily for the participants, Burmese pythons are non-venomous so a bite will be unpleasant but not fatal.
After the 2021 python challenge just passed this August the 600 participants managed to successfully remove 223 snakes from the ecosystem. These hunts don’t only cull the non-native python population, they raise awareness to the whole state of the current ecological crisis unfolding. Understandably, people are still torn on what to do with the captured pythons. From the python challenge all the snakes are killed but some question if these animals should be shipped away to zoos and native homes rather than carelessly euthanized.
By involving local communities as well as encouraging participants from across the country, the python challenge is doing more than just removing snakes, it’s uniting people to work together to care about our wild spaces. Admittedly, despite its victories, the challenge still only removed 223 snakes out of a potential 100,000 population. How do we remove more?
Scientific organizations such as the Conservancy of Southwest Florida have been funded to see if technology can bolster the captures. Male pythons are kidnapped, surgically implanted with radio transmitters, and released back into the Everglades as our very own “sentinel snakes”. As the breeding season approaches these males seek out breeding females which is a rare time when these primarily solitary reptiles group together. Unbeknownst to the others, the betraying sentinel leads the team to the concealed pythons allowing multiple to be caught along with the pregnant female. Each pregnant female caught is a big win as it stops another potential 50-100 snakes from being released to terrorise the Everglades. The sentinels are then released again leading the team to their next victim.
Burmese pythons are non-venomous although their bite is still extremely sharp and painful. They hunt their prey by biting near the head and constricting, suffocating, and crushing them before ultimately swallowing.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Charles Ommanney
From the snakes that are captured the majority are killed with only a handful of people using the meat for food as the rest go to waste as another reminder of our error. However, local Miami designer Elle Barbeito has taken a new path when interacting with Florida’s non-native companions. She takes the snakes caught by her father, a contracted python hunter for SFWMD, and transformed them into a collection of contemporary individualistic fashion pieces, enhancing the area of sustainable creativity in the face of a wasteful ecological problem. As long as pythons remain invasive in Florida, Elle’s practice only promotes a healthier ecosystem, one that is closer to its former natural functionality.
Finding ethical and pragmatic solutions to the conundrum of Florida’s Burmese pythons becomes ever more clouded when we realise the situation these species face within their native home of Southeast Asia. Despite thriving in Florida, the Burmese python is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, leaving them one step away from total endangerment. The population has reduced by 30% over the past decade at the hands of excessive habitat loss, increased poaching and the growing pet trade, the very problem that triggered Florida’s predicament.
Illegal wildlife trade in Möng La, Shan, Myanmar shows captured Burmese pythons in cages.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Dan Bennett
Conservationist biologists are now questioned directly about what belongs where and how to protect the same species on different fronts. Do we need to work together internationally to return pythons to Southeast Asia rather than eating, skinning, and culling them in a place where they are unintentionally thriving? Can we conserve a species in one habitat but kill it freely in another?
This scenario is just one revealing the complexity of invasive species biology and how the context of location triggers such different responses in terms of conservation. Certain animals adapt so swiftly to new environmental scenarios leaving us with a duty to stop these catastrophes occurring in every place we inhabit or rethink the whole idea of invasion in a post-wild world. As we alter and interfere with every one of our planet’s ecosystems, soon every species, plant, animal, or fungi, may be seen as belonging everywhere and nowhere.
Biases in this field are rife. Even the establishment of what makes something native is questioned, how long does it have to be there to become authorized to stay? Our initial collective judgment of a species also plays a part. If a species appears harmless, we generally accept their addition to the environment not questioning their origin, for example the ring-necked parakeets of London. But if the species appears threatening, we act out. This is the paradox we face.
Ultimately, we have created a situation where the Burmese python exists as the endangered and the menace, a victim and a villain in a hurriedly shifting world we are struggling to understand.
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