[Animals] 19 python babies and their massive mom nabbed in Florida nursery raid

[-ShylOo]

                                                                                                 

 

 

Under the cover of darkness, two wildlife officials raided an invasive python's nest in a South Florida swamp and successfully wrestled 19 wriggling hatchlings and their mother into a bag and out of the protected habitat. The next day, one of the officials captured a second breeding female — measuring an astounding 17.5 feet (5.3 meters) long — from the exact same spot.

Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) were first introduced to Florida in the 1970s and have since established large breeding po[CENSORED]tions in southern regions of the state. The humongous snakes usually grow to be about 6 to 9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 m) long, although recently, officials captured a nearly 18 foot (5.4 m) long python near Naples that weighed 215 pounds (97 kilograms), Live Science previously reported. With few natural predators in Florida, the invasive snakes pose a threat to many native birds, mammals and even alligators, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission(opens in new tab) (FWC).

For this reason, the FWC and other organizations use a number of strategies to find, capture and remove pythons from South Florida ecosystems; this includes hiring contractors to survey snake-infested swampland and capture any pythons they find.

                                                                                  https://www.livescience.com/invasive-pythons-hatchlings-removed-florida

Edited July 20, 2022 by -ShylOo