I have to say, when a Commission whose job is normally to keep animals safe is saying you can kill as many of one type of animal as you want it is a good bet there are way too many. Even funnier is they have asked participants kill the pythons humanely - either by shooting them in the head or decapitating them, which doesn't sound very humane. And, to try and further motivate people to get involved they will be offering prizes: $1,000 to the person who kills the most snakes and $1,500 to the person who kills the longest. (If you want to sleep well tonight, do not look up how long the biggest snake captured so far was.) Sadly, roadkill will not be counted, so you may not use your truck as a weapon. If you want to participate all you have to do is pay $25 and sit through a class, which I'm sure will be more about not shooting your hunting partner or ending up inside the snake you are trying to kill. The Wildlife Commission also hopes this will teach people not to release their pets into the wild. Either way, it sounds like a win/win for everyone involved. I'm certainly not about to complain about fewer snakes in the world. So, Liz, how are you with a crossbow?
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Happy Hunting
Most of my friends and family know that I am not a fan of spiders, but I will still deal with them. However, what I will not deal with are snakes - at all. The good news is that this issue very rarely comes up because I have a personal policy which leads me to avoiding places where I suspect snakes of hang out. Sadly, it appears I will be adding the entire state of Florida to that list. The other day I saw a story about the Burmese python problem in the Everglades. Even though they are not native to that section of the world, the snakes have been frequently been found in the area since 1979. The best guess is that people got them as pets and then when they got too big to take care of, simply released them into the wild (because why would you want to release a snake before it got too big?). Anyway, ever since the snakes have been multiplying, as animals tend to do. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission can't give an exact figure on the number of snakes out there, but ever since they snakes showed up they've seen a steep decline in most of the other animals in the area, including animals you would expect to be able to hold their own, like bobcats. There are so many snakes that now the Wildlife Conservation Commission is declaring open season on them for the month of January.
I have to say, when a Commission whose job is normally to keep animals safe is saying you can kill as many of one type of animal as you want it is a good bet there are way too many. Even funnier is they have asked participants kill the pythons humanely - either by shooting them in the head or decapitating them, which doesn't sound very humane. And, to try and further motivate people to get involved they will be offering prizes: $1,000 to the person who kills the most snakes and $1,500 to the person who kills the longest. (If you want to sleep well tonight, do not look up how long the biggest snake captured so far was.) Sadly, roadkill will not be counted, so you may not use your truck as a weapon. If you want to participate all you have to do is pay $25 and sit through a class, which I'm sure will be more about not shooting your hunting partner or ending up inside the snake you are trying to kill. The Wildlife Commission also hopes this will teach people not to release their pets into the wild. Either way, it sounds like a win/win for everyone involved. I'm certainly not about to complain about fewer snakes in the world. So, Liz, how are you with a crossbow?
I have to say, when a Commission whose job is normally to keep animals safe is saying you can kill as many of one type of animal as you want it is a good bet there are way too many. Even funnier is they have asked participants kill the pythons humanely - either by shooting them in the head or decapitating them, which doesn't sound very humane. And, to try and further motivate people to get involved they will be offering prizes: $1,000 to the person who kills the most snakes and $1,500 to the person who kills the longest. (If you want to sleep well tonight, do not look up how long the biggest snake captured so far was.) Sadly, roadkill will not be counted, so you may not use your truck as a weapon. If you want to participate all you have to do is pay $25 and sit through a class, which I'm sure will be more about not shooting your hunting partner or ending up inside the snake you are trying to kill. The Wildlife Commission also hopes this will teach people not to release their pets into the wild. Either way, it sounds like a win/win for everyone involved. I'm certainly not about to complain about fewer snakes in the world. So, Liz, how are you with a crossbow?
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