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The Burmese python, a huge snake, is hated in the United States. Despite its native Asia, it is considered a national second-class protected animal, a vulnerable species belonging to the IUCN and prohibited from hunting. In the United States, however, the Burmese python is hunted and its survival is seriously threatened. To understand the causes of this phenomenon, we will delve into the plight of the Burmese python and its invasion of the American ecosystem.
The "misery" of the Burmese python
In most places, the Burmese python enjoys the status of a protected animal and is a feared existence. However, in the United States, there is a bounty system for hunting Burmese pythons. Recent reports say a Florida python hunter caught a 5-meter-long Burmese python in the Everglades area. Although this is only a fraction of its body length, it is relatively large in the Asian wild. During the dissection of the large python, 60 unhatched snake eggs were found, which is not the first time that the "killing chickens and extracting eggs" has occurred. Last year, a team of American biologists captured a 5.4-meter-long, 195-pound Burmese python in the Southwest Florida Nature Reserve, breaking records for length and weight in the wild in the United States. After dissection, they found four incompletely digested animal hooves and 122 infully developed eggs in the belly of the python.
In addition, American zoologists have developed a method for killing multiple pythons at once, which involves implanting a positioning device in an adult male python and then tracking them through localization during the breeding season. Since Burmese pythons often gather in multiple males during the breeding season, this method is obviously more efficient. Back in 2021, zoologists successfully used this method for the first time to capture 7 large pythons at once. Captured female pythons will be euthanized, while qualified male pythons will continue to be used in research on positioning devices, becoming so-called "undercover snakes."
However, the ways to hunt Burmese pythons don't stop there. Since 2013, Florida has hosted its annual "Python Hunting Contest," which has attracted more than 1,600 participants with high prize money. Despite the generous prize money, due to the Burmese python's ability to hide underwater, only a few dozen pythons can be captured in one competition, and even in 2020, the highest number was only 231.
As a result, Burmese pythons are living in the United States, where they are targeted to hunt in a variety of ways, and even carry out large-scale clean-up operations every year. Their fate is rather tragic compared to their counterparts in Asia. So why is the United States so bitterly killing Burmese pythons? It's all about the invasion and proliferation of Burmese pythons.
Burmese python's "attack"
Burmese pythons are mainly found in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, and although they are also partially distributed in southern China, their native habitat is still in Asia. However, Burmese pythons were able to cross halfway around the world to the United States only because the United States introduced them.
Due to the beautiful pattern on the Burmese python, its leather is regarded as superior. Therefore, since the end of the last century, the United States has successively introduced Burmese pythons for captivity. In addition, the Burmese python also has a golden yellow variant, this beautiful body color attracted American climbing pet enthusiasts in the last century, making the Burmese python a popular pet and climbing pet.
However, when people started raising these pythons, they quickly discovered a problem: Burmese pythons eat a huge amount and grow quickly. Especially when they grow up, they become a threat and a burden. As a result, many people began to release farmed Burmese pythons, resulting in a considerable number of Burmese pythons congregating in the wild
。 In 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed many python farms, resulting in an increasing number of Burmese pythons conjuring up in the wild. These pythons gradually adapted to the cold environment of the American winter, went into hibernation, and began to breed on a large scale. The place where they first gathered was the Great Everglades of Florida.
As the number increased, the Everglades, a place with an intact ecosystem, was completely subverted by the Burmese python. Many wild animals are endangered by the Burmese python, and the Burmese python continues to spread around, and now has left their sights on about 1/3 of the United States.
What really changed, however, was an unforgivable incident in 2009. A Burmese python strangled and swallowed a 2-year-old child in a park. The incident caused a huge sensation, and the Burmese python was seen as the enemy of the whole people. Experienced people enter the Burmese python's habitat to hunt for it. As mentioned earlier, various methods have been adopted, such as locating pythons, killing pythons for eggs, etc., to curb the trend of the spread of pythons in Myanmar. After all, according to 2022 estimates, there are already more than 300,000 Burmese pythons in the United States, and a single hunt will obviously not completely solve the problem, so a more efficient approach is needed.
summary
From the encounter of the Burmese python, it can be seen that the protective identity of animals has different meanings in different regions. A wild animal may be rare in its native area and listed as a protected animal, but once it becomes an invasive alien species, it can have devastating effects on new ecosystems. The Burmese python example shows that the impact of human activities is not limited to introduced species, but also includes dynamic ecological balance, and that protecting and maintaining the stability of ecosystems is essential to maintain biodiversity. How to balance the protection of wild animals with the control of invasive species is an issue that needs to be studied and explored.
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