Invasive pythons

[Johnny_L.A]

From 2012:

Last year, Florida started an official python hunting season. From March 5 to April 12, hunters can shoot pythons with firearms, as long as they have a hunting license, a python permit and correct game tags.

Permits allow hunters to brave taking the snakes by hand all year long, but the reptiles must be immediately euthanized by humane means, Novak said.

If pythons are an invasive species, then why do you have to have a permit to kill them? Why is there a season? Why must they be killed by ‘humane means’? (I assume ‘humane means’ means you can’t just chop their heads off with a machete.)

[Filbert]

Why would them being an invasive species mean that inhumane treatment was permitted?

It doesn’t follow any more than it would to say that it’s ok to practice torture techniques on condemned prisoners.

As to the other, I’d guess that there’s a hunting season on other animals in the area, and that’s basically just stopping people from claiming to be legally hunting pythons, rather than illegally hunting something else.

[HoneyBadgerDC]

Humane is ambiguous for a reason I imagine. I think they mean don’t do things like burn them, or beat them with sticks. Chopping off heads would likley be a very acceptable method.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Filbert

Why would them being an invasive species mean that inhumane treatment was permitted?

I’m not suggesting inhumane treatment is OK. But the stipulation seems (to me) to imply that the snakes be ‘put down’ like a dog or a cat, perhaps with lethal injection. Why shouldn’t someone just be allowed to chop its head off with a machete or shoot it in the head with a bullet or shot?

[Filbert]

@Johnny_L.A

I’m not suggesting inhumane treatment is OK. But the stipulation seems (to me) to imply that the snakes be ‘put down’ like a dog or a cat, perhaps with lethal injection. Why shouldn’t someone just be allowed to chop its head off with a machete or shoot it in the head with a bullet or shot?

I suspect it’s more aimed at stopping things like, as is commonly reported in Australia with cane toads, people using them as golf balls, or intentionally injuring them for kicks. Once something is declared a pest and people are encouraged to kill them, that sort of stuff does start happening…

I doubt it means they have to be given a nice calm room, a hug from a grieving family and one of their favourite squeaky toys to play with, while a vet ‘sends them over the rainbow bridge’.

A clean shot to the head is probably fine, or why would hunting with guns be allowed at all?

[Colibri]

Here’s more on the program.

Does the Burmese Python Removal permit allow for hunting pythons?
The Burmese Python Removal Program is not a hunting program; rather it is a management tool that aims to collect data on the locations of Burmese pythons and the effort spent searching for these reptiles, and to have these animals removed from the environment. FWC allows licensed hunters to harvest pythons on 4 Wildlife Management Areas: Everglades and Francis S. Taylor WMA, Rotenberger WMA, Holey Land WMA, and Big Cypress WMA during any established hunting season on those areas. Hunters must have a valid hunting license and WMA permit, and adhere to the regulations for each WMA.

At this point, I think the priority is getting info on the pythons rather than purely on eradication.

Pythons are potentially dangerous animals. Fish and Wildlife may not want just anyone chasing them around under their auspices.

Regarding using humane methods of euthanizing snakes, the program might get more opposition from animal rights groups if just any method was used. From here, acceptable methods include those that destroy the brain quickly, including using a captive bolt or gunshot to the brain, or stunning with a blunt instrument followed by decapitation with a machete.

Why are these measures necessary? The central nervous system of a python (and all reptiles) is tolerant to low oxygen and low blood pressure conditions (AVMA 2007) and so the brain of a python can remain active for up to an hour even after decapitation, thus allowing the snake to experience pain (Barten 1994). Because the goal is to minimize the snake’s suffering, the brain should be quickly destroyed. Nerve reflexes can cause muscle twitches for hours after death in the snake’s trunk and jaws (Ernst and Zug 1996).

“Humane” does not necessarily mean anesthesia or lethal injection. An acceptable method for killing birds taken for scientific specimens is cardiac compression, which basically means squeezing the chest until the heart stops.

[Rick]

@Colibri

“Humane” does not necessarily mean anesthesia or lethal injection. An acceptable method for killing birds taken for scientific specimens is cardiac compression, which basically means squeezing the chest until the heart stops.

Are you also required to call him George?