From The Times
October 17, 2009
Florida Everglades fear rise of the people-eating super-snakes
Jacqui Goddard in Miami

An invasion of giant snakes has turned Florida into a potential spawning ground for hybrid super-serpents capable of devouring humans.

The discovery of African rock pythons close to the Everglades wetlands is a worrying development for wildlife officers already troubled by the rising population of Burmese pythons, bred from pets dumped illegally in the wild.

Kenneth Krysko, a herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History, speculates that should the two species mate, they could create genetically superior offspring more aggressive, powerful and resilient than their parents — possibly with the ability to strike down human prey.

Rock pythons are “so mean, they come out of the egg striking . . . this is one vicious animal”, he told National Geographic News. “The arrival of the Burmese python was the biggest, most devastating problem that Florida could ever have imagined. Now we have a worse one.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6878440.ece


..............

This is such bullshit, I've been meaning to post on it.

Basically, a number of people have released pet pythons. These have apparently established a breeding population in the hospitable clime of the Everglades. However, I think the media are greatly exaggerating the numbers and the real threat these pythons pose to people. At most you might see some pets eaten, that's the reality of it.

I wonder if they'll eat little Spic and half-Spic children in preference.

I wonder if they'll eat little Spic and half-Spic children in preference.
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Avoid the White ones, Rocky. They're not ripe yet.

Unsavoury hors d'œuvres like this .....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Sonia_Sotomayor_in_SCOTUS_robe.jpg/250px-Sonia_Sotomayor_in_SCOTUS_robe.jpg

....may put the snake off its next meal.

"Attacks on humans are very uncommon. Although this species can easily kill an adult, there are only a few cases in which the victim, in most cases a child, was actually consumed. A Ugandan newspaper reported in 1951 that a 13-year-old boy was swallowed, but the python was forced to disgorge the body. In 1973, another newspaper reported that a Portuguese soldier was discovered in the stomach of a snake. In 1979, a 14.9 ft (4.5 m) python tried to eat a 13-year-old boy. It was discovered with the boy completely entwined, but after being hit by stones, it regurgitated the body and retreated. The boy was 1.3 m tall and weighed 45 kg.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_sebae#cite_note-Bra80-6) On Easter weekend of 2009, Ben Nyaumbe, a farmer was attacked after stepping on a specimen, and was dragged up a tree by the snake, but managed to escape after calling for help on his mobile phone.[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_sebae#cite_note-BBC-7) The last known case in which a person was eaten occurred in South Africa in 2002, the victim being a 10-year-old child.[9]" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_sebae#cite_note-Age-8)