Legal Commentary

Run For the Hills! It's the Supersnake!

By Professor University of Miami School of Law

The Miami Herald warns that New python sparks fears of a 'super snake'. It seems that African Rock Pythons have been captured in Miami-Dade — probably vacationing from the Everglades in an attempt to warm up. Worse, some spotted were not captured. Worse still, one of the big ones that got away was carrying eggs (how could they get close enough to tell but not catch it?). And even worse than that, the Herald found a biologist who speculates the African Rock Pythons (pictured) might hybridize with our plentiful escaped Burmese Python population to create the headlined “supersnake”.

A three-day, state-coordinated hunt that started Tuesday had, by Wednesday, netted at least five African rock pythons — including a 14-foot-long female — in a targeted area in Miami-Dade County.

Those findings add to concerns that the rock python is a new breeding population in the Everglades and not just the result of a few overgrown pets released into the wild, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

In addition, state environmental officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python, which already has an established foothold in the Everglades. That could lead to a new “super snake,'' said George Horne, the water district's deputy executive director.

In Africa, the rock python eats everything from goats to crocodiles. There have been cases of the snakes killing children.

“They are bigger and meaner than the Burmese python. It's not good news,'' said Deborah Drum, deputy director of the district's restoration sciences department.

The area the snakes were found is about 15 miles due west of the law school. So, even though no one has yet spotted such a hybrid, RUN FOR THE HILLS!

Oh, wait. We don't have any hills in South Florida. Never Mind.

Full post as published by Discourse.net on January 14, 2010 (boomark / email).