Recently, a news story in the United States attracted widespread attention about the surge in the Burmese python population, posing a huge threat to the local environment and wildlife. People are puzzled that Burmese pythons are supposed to live in Myanmar, but how did they breed in large numbers in the United States?
This issue concerns misconduct by the American people. As a multi-ethnic country, people in the United States have a variety of preferences and customs. In the United States, many people like to keep all kinds of exotic animals, and many pet traders go around to find all kinds of exotic animals in pursuit of profit. The Burmese python came into their field of vision.
Typically, Burmese pythons live in Southeast Asia because they are cold-blooded animals that rely on the external environment to regulate body temperature. The warm climate of Southeast Asia is very suitable for their growth. These pythons can be several meters long and have beautiful patterns, so they are widely advertised as pets that will not grow up after being brought back to the United States. Many people are misled by these propaganda, however, in just a few months, the Burmese python can reach a body length of 2 meters. They have a long lifespan and a large amount of food, which is not suitable for ordinary family breeding at all. Cold-blooded animals have no emotions and will keep growing as long as they have enough food. Once they are hungry, many dogs and cats become their food, and there are even records of attacks on humans. In this case, many Burmese pythons are either abandoned or directly killed, which is very regrettable.
However, occasional abandonment or killing alone is not enough to trigger a massive boa constrictor infestation. For a species to reproduce successfully, it requires the efforts of the entire population. So the initial problem is not serious, because pythons can maintain a full stomach state for several weeks by feeding at a time, they do not have a strong ability to pred, it is difficult to survive independently in the wild, and naturally cannot reproduce in large numbers.
However, people overestimate the adaptability and survivability of pythons. Due to the abundance of local wild resources and the lack of natural predators, the python population has grown rapidly. By the time people realized the problem, it was too late and the entire wildlife ecosystem was severely damaged.
The ravages of the Burmese python have dealt a devastating blow to the local area. The entire area has suffered from anaconda ravages, and even the largest local crocodile cannot compete with adult pythons. Although pythons only need to eat once in a while, local poultry, wild animals and even human cubs have been attacked by pythons due to their large numbers. According to statistics, the number of local wild Burmese pythons may have exceeded 300,000, and this number is constantly growing. At this time, it was too late to control, people were dissatisfied, and the Burmese python became one of the worst biological invasions in the United States.
People feel helpless about how to control the Burmese python population. Although the United States mobilized hunters from all over the United States to catch and encouraged those who liked to hunt to participate, this method had little effect. Even the local hunting of Burmese pythons was held, attracting many favorite hunting and farmers to participate, but in a dozen days, only more than 20 Burmese pythons were killed, and the effect was very limited.
Locals are encouraged to carry thermal weapons and hunt Burmese pythons for rewards, but this is also inefficient. Introducing natural predators of Burmese pythons or releasing poisonous food have also been considered, but fears will trigger greater biological invasions or harm to other wildlife.
In short, so far, the local government has not found an effective solution and has only watched the Burmese python continue to breed. In order to cope with this situation, special positions have been set up in the local area, such as providing incentives of 10 US dollars, but few people can respond. After all, this creature is able to surpass even the largest local crocodile. Coupled with the flexible nature of snakes, the killing work is extremely difficult and it is really impossible to cope with.