Floirda senator asks for Everglades snake hunt

In Florida you can hunt just about every animal species there is – and if Senator Bill Nelson gets his way you might soon get to add Burmese Pythons to the list. Burmese pythons are kept as pets, but their population in south Florida has exploded in recent years – either because people have let them go or because they got loose during hurricanes. There are now an estimated 100,000-or-more pythons now roaming the Everglades. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to allow deputized agents and volunteers into the national park this winter to kill as many of the snakes as possible. In his letter, Nelson asked Salazar to use other agencies or deputized agents to go after the snakes and kill them en masse in a special hunt. The pythons are hard to find in the warmer months when they hide in the saw grass. But in the cooler months, they come out to sun on the roadsides and open areas. Nelson said the pythons threaten the park’s ecosystem, and pose a danger to humans. Florida is already taking some steps to control the snake population; the state is in the early stages of establishing a program to let reptile experts capture the snakes on lands that the state manages.