.
Burmese pythons, once kept as pets and released into the wild when they get too big for their owners to manage are now a major problem in Florida’s Everglades. Some experts are now licensed to hunt and kill the creatures, native to Asia, which have flourished in Florida’s warm, moist climate and which are now threatening some of the area’s own endangered species by eating them.
Not interested in this? Too far away? Not a bit of it, for stories about these dangerous creatures keep popping up in our own country almost every year.
In 2003, a Sheffield family were said to be ‘overjoyed’ when their 11 ft Burmese python was found safe and well after it was found in nearby allotments after having been missing for two weeks. The following year a Burmese python attacked a collie in a sports field in Kent; fortunately, the dog escaped with just the loss of one eye, but the snake was never found. The next year a 12 ft Burmese python was found dumped in a Lancashire wood, and in 2007 a 9 ft Burmese python was found abandoned by the roadside.
Just last month, a cat named Wilbur was crushed and eaten by a 13 ft Burmese python kept as a pet by a Bristol man in his garden. While the cat’s screams were heard but the deed not actually witnessed, it seems that the moggie's microchip was scanned inside the python.
While the Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 1976 has many restrictions, it doesn’t include constrictor snakes. It should do, for next time it could be a child.
.
Burmese pythons, once kept as pets and released into the wild when they get too big for their owners to manage are now a major problem in Florida’s Everglades. Some experts are now licensed to hunt and kill the creatures, native to Asia, which have flourished in Florida’s warm, moist climate and which are now threatening some of the area’s own endangered species by eating them.
Not interested in this? Too far away? Not a bit of it, for stories about these dangerous creatures keep popping up in our own country almost every year.
In 2003, a Sheffield family were said to be ‘overjoyed’ when their 11 ft Burmese python was found safe and well after it was found in nearby allotments after having been missing for two weeks. The following year a Burmese python attacked a collie in a sports field in Kent; fortunately, the dog escaped with just the loss of one eye, but the snake was never found. The next year a 12 ft Burmese python was found dumped in a Lancashire wood, and in 2007 a 9 ft Burmese python was found abandoned by the roadside.
Just last month, a cat named Wilbur was crushed and eaten by a 13 ft Burmese python kept as a pet by a Bristol man in his garden. While the cat’s screams were heard but the deed not actually witnessed, it seems that the moggie's microchip was scanned inside the python.
While the Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 1976 has many restrictions, it doesn’t include constrictor snakes. It should do, for next time it could be a child.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment