Wednesday, August 26, 2015

The Florida Everglades habitat being decimated by pythons (NOTE: Documentary on WPBT tonight; details below)

Burmese Python (image from Wikipedia)
Barbara Marshall has terrible news about the future of the Everglades. While most of the debate about the environment focuses on sheet flow, building reservoirs, Florida's estuaries, and sea level rise, the entire Everglades ecosystem is being destroyed by pythons. Maybe this news will be the clarion call to solve this terrible problem once and for all.

Here is an excerpt from the article:
       Inspired by Florida’s 2013 python hunt, Corral [former Miami Herald reporter Oscar Corral] spent more than a year tramping the levees and swamps of the southern Everglades following hunters in search of the giant, secretive snakes that have become the ‘Glades’ apex predators.
      His conclusion? There is no practical solution to getting rid of them.
     “Pythons are most likely going to alter the Everglades ecosystem forever,” he said.
     Since 2013, scientists have been warning about the almost complete elimination of mammals in the southern Everglades due to the explosion in the python population.
The reporter refers to a new documentary called Exotic Invaders: Pythons in the Everglades which airs tonight (Wednesday, 8/26 on WPBT at 8 p.m.). Here is a preview: