The biggest python ever caught in the US and one of the world’s largest, was captured in Flordia after eating an adult deer.
The giant snake highlights the problem the state has with the invasive species. Florida is working to control pythons with technology, old-fashioned hunting and various contests. The snake was about 25 feet long and over 200 pounds which makes it one of the biggest ever. Pythons that size can eat adult humans and sometimes do.
No one knows how many pythons live in Florida. Irresponsible owners either released them or did not adequately cage them. Over the last few decades the population has boomed and they are consuming native wildlife with very few natural enemies. Alligators and pythons do eat each other, and the larger usually wins. Bobcats have been seen eating python eggs, and bobcats eat snakes. But a bobcat is no match for any but the smallest python. A number of owls and hawks and other animals {including snake eating snakes ) might be able to eat hatchlings but the python population is growing. Natural controls are not reducing the numbers.
Florida is responding in a number of ways. The snake in question was a female, and she was found by releasing a male with a tracker imbedded in his body. Catching females can prevent the laying of 100 or more eggs at a time and many times that over a lifetime. The use of tracker males is important but is not the Silver Bullet.
State laws have been amended to encourage hunting, and restaurants serve python meat to the adventurous. There are bounties for capture and contests to see who can capture the most. Python hunters have even been brought to Florida from Asia to help locals learn the ways of this highly destructive invader.
Worldwide the question of invasive species is a serious one. Drug lord Pablo Escobar imported hippos to Colombia for his amusement, but Colombia isn’t amused. The country may have to kill some. Australia is plagued by a great variety of invasive species and has declared “war” on feral cats. Millions of released or escaped housecats have multiplied and are wreaking havoc on Australia’s unique wildlife, much of it small, flightless or otherwise vulnerable to the small but highly efficient predators. Not all invasive species are as big as pythons. Joro spiders have recently reached the United States and so far their impact seems benign.