By Jill Austin

The Nature Conservancy’s Florida Keys “Python Patrol” grew stronger when 12 new snake catchers were trained January 26 to respond to sightings called in by the Keys-wide Eyes & Ears patrol.

This task force of patrollers and responders is fighting an invasion of Burmese pythons into the Florida Keys, first discovered in April 2007 on Friday the 13th.

The Burmese pythons have swum more than 6 miles to the Florida Keys from Florida's Everglades National Park — infested with a population of more than 10,000 snakes. The problem started more than 10 years ago because of a few released pets.

“Early-detection, rapid-response is the best way to stop them,” says Alison Higgins, The Nature Conservancy’s Florida Keys conservation manager.

• Watch a FOX News interview with Alison Higgins.

“We already know they are eating some of the many endangered and rare species we have here in the Keys.”

Snake in the Road!

Keys workers who spend much of their day driving, such as FedEx and U.S. Postal Service drivers, have joined the Eyes & Ears Team to call in sightings.

Pythons often warm themselves on the roads, so the drivers are ideal candidates to look for snakes.

• Listen to "Mail Carriers on Python Patrol in South Florida" on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

“We have almost 60 participants trained — safety officers, meter readers, postal workers, road crews, landscape crews — to recognize the problem species,” Higgins says.

When Eyes & Ears Team members sight a snake and call the python hotline, 1-888-IVE-GOT-1, the sheriff’s office quickly dispatches someone trained to capture invasive snakes.

The 12 new responders now on the list will be called according to the location of the sighting.

“We ask the responders to consider safety first and then work to tire out the snake before they capture it. Luckily these pythons tire very quickly,” Higgins says.

The capture techniques the class learned include treadmilling, where the responder drags their hands one after the other along the underbelly of the snake to make it think it is getting away, and using a sheet or towel like a bullfighter might to get the snake to strike.

When the snake is tired, the capturers firmly grab at the base of the head and avoid the writhing body getting wrapped around their legs.

In the Belly of a Python

Eight pythons have been discovered in the Keys so far.

The first was discovered alive in 2007 when two researchers studying federally endangered Key Largo woodrats were checking on the status of a male woodrat wearing a radio transmitter that had moved more than a mile from its original documented habitat.

The signal led the University of St. Andrews graduate student and a volunteer assistant to a 7-1/2-foot Burmese python sunning itself.

The contents of the captured snake’s stomach included not only the collared woodrat but another one as well.  

No Signs of Breeding…Yet!

While pythons aren’t known to attack people, they are voracious and indiscriminate eaters.
To reach a full-grown length of about 13 feet, one python would need to eat nearly 200 pounds of food over five years. Some captured snakes have grown as large as 20 feet.

But the good news is that Conservancy biologists don’t believe the Keys pythons are yet breeding, since no smaller snakes have been found.

“These snakes have to be older before they disperse like this, so right now we have a good chance to prevent the next invasion," says Higgins. "We are empowering a lot of new partners in the community to help.”

Next Stop: Washington D.C.?

The Conservancy has been working for more than three years in Florida on the policy end of the invasive python issue — supporting a federal petition to get the Burmese python listed and taken out of the pet trade. Infestations often start when exotic pets escape or are released. Find out what to do when you can no longer care for an exotic pet.

The Conservancy supported Florida legislation that went into effect last January that requires new owners of Nile monitor lizards and five large constrictor snakes (including the Burmese python) to pay $100 for a permit and to install an identification chip so escaped pets can be tracked back to their owners.

The Non-native Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act (HR 669) bill, reintroduced in Congress in late January, is a priority for the Conservancy.

The bill seeks to prevent invasive species by requiring Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to assess the invasive risks associated with imported wildlife and prohibit the importation of those species that are likely to be invasive here in the United States.

It would not supercede, but complement, authority already available to several federal agencies under existing law to help prevent invasives at the federal level.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fl) added some urgency to the effort when he introduced a bill in early February to ban the importation and interstate commerce of the python.

This step, to specifically include the python in the prohibitions listed in the Lacey Act, is needed to reduce the number of pythons released into the wild by pet owners who don't understand the responsibility caring for a python entails, Nelson testified before a Congressional committee.

“If we do not take action now, we will let python populations in Florida continue to grow and further ravage the already-fragile Everglades, as well as risk letting them spread throughout the southern portion of the United States,” Nelson told the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The legislation is timely as the snakes are potentially more than just Florida's problem. The native climate of the invasive pythons — from Pakistan to Indonesia — is the same as about one-third of the United States, according to new “climate maps” released by the U.S. Geological Survey.

“It’s sad that it’s gotten this far — and unfortunately, there is no reason to think that they aren’t going to disperse farther north,” says Kris Serbesoff-King, The Nature Conservancy’s Florida invasive species program manager.

“Maybe they won’t get to New York City, but their native habitat compares to the entire southern United States,” adds Serbesoff-King. “The positive thing is that in the Keys there is a high likelihood that we can be successful.”

Jill Austin is a senior conservation writer with The Nature Conservancy in Florida. 

Nature photo credits (left to right): © Lori Oberhofer, National Park Service (Burmese python (Python molurus) and alligator locked in mortal combat); © Amber Plank (Burmese python); © David Dadurka/TNC (Python Patrol Training)