|Click image to enlarge| Biologist Shawn Heflick (third from
left) holds a Burmese python in Southern Florida in 2009. Many
of these pythons have since died off due to the cold weather in
Florida. Florida wrapped up its six-week hunting season in the
everglades with no pythons captured. The python hunting season,
which lasted from March 8 to April 17, was open to everyone in
possession of a hunting license and a $26 permit. The Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) began the season
to eradicate nonnative species in Southern Florida—in particular
the Burmese python. Other “reptiles of concern” that hunters
were permitted to remove from designated state-managed lands
included the reticulated python, northern and southern African
rock python, amethystine or scrub python, green anaconda and
Nile monitor. Conservation biologist Shawn Heflick said that
part of the reason no snakes were found is that many of them had
already been killed off by the freezing temperatures in Florida
in January. Heflic