HERP NEWS 222/2009
GLOBE AND MAIL (Toronto, Ontario) 10 August
09 Zoo
shares some snake-bite love (Kate Hammer)
Snake
antivenom is hard to come by this season in Ontario, but there are cottagers
and eastern massasauga rattlesnakes aplenty.
When a
rattlesnake bit a man vacationing in the Parry Sound area on Thursday evening,
the local hospital's antivenom supply was running low, so an appeal for help
was made to a reptile zoo near Peterborough.
Bry Loyst,
curator of the Indian River Reptile Zoo, came to the rescue with 15 vials of
CroFab, an antivenom used to treat eastern massasauga rattlesnake bites. The
vials were sent to the West Parry Sound Health Centre yesterday.
"I saw it
coming because I know there was a shortage this year," said Mr. Loyst.
"We're
the only reptile zoo in Canada that keeps anti-serum for all the animals that
we keep."
Vials of
CroFab contain only 1 millilitre of antivenom and cost about $1,600 each,
according to Mr. Loyst. The antivenom has a shelf-life of 30 months and must be
stored at about 2 C.
The man who
was bitten on Thursday evening was treated with the hospital's last 12 vials
but may need more, according to Jim Hanna, a spokesman for the West Parry Sound
Health Centre.
The planned
provincial funding that kept an antivenom depot running has dried up, and an
unusually high number of snake bites so far this year - five, according to Mr.
Hanna - has depleted stores.
The amount of
venom a rattlesnake delivers to its victim can vary. About a quarter of all
bites are dry and deliver no venom, while the venom in a moderate bite can
usually be treated with about 12 vials of antivenom, Mr. Hanna said.
August is
mating season for the eastern massasauga, Ontario's only native poisonous
snake, and vacation season for the Canadian cottager. Dense populations of both
are concentrated in the Georgian Bay area.
The snakes are
generally shy and won't bite unless trod on or attacked. Bites are rarely fatal
but can cause swelling and pain, and obstruct the blood's ability to clot.
"People
should be aware of their surroundings and carry a flashlight with them at
night," Mr. Hanna said.
COUNTY GAZETTE (Cornwall, UK) 10 August
09 Tortoise
theft from St Austell
Zeus, a 7
stone Sulcata tortoise has been stolen during a burglary at The Tortoise Garden
at Sticker, near St Austell.
He was stolen
along with over 20 other tortoises in a burglary at sanctuary between Sunday
night (9 August 2009) and Monday morning (10 August 2009).
The offenders
forced their way into a number of locked enclosures and stole Zeus along with
Margis, Leopard, Spur, Redfoot and Yellowfoot tortoises.
Other
tortoises had been stolen from their pens earlier on the Sunday, probably by a
visitor who went to the garden which is open to the public. On that occasion
five tortoises – 2 Hermans, 1 male juvenile Spur and two Indian Stars were
stolen.
The owner of
the tortoise garden, Joy Bloor said, "I am absolutely devastated that the
tortoises have been stolen.
"Many of
them are tropical tortoises which means that they will suffer if they are not
kept in the right conditions."
John Hayward,
the co-ordinator of the national theft register for exotic animals, who are
security advisors for zoos and animal associations said, "A number of
different species were stolen, many of which are on the most endangered species
list.
"Those
particularly animals referred to, especially the Hermann’s and the Spur-thighed
tortoises can only be sold or purchased under licence. Because of their rarity
it is illegal to offer such species into trade and it is a most serious offence
which can carry upwards of 5 year in prison.
"It is
not the actual monetary value. Our main concern is the welfare of these
tortoises that have special dietary requirement. Additionally as a result of
the action of the thieves vital breeding programmes have been destroyed."
Anyone with
any information regarding the stolen tortoises is asked to call Crimestoppers
on 0800 555111 quoting crime reference GA/09/2255 or John Hayward of the
national register for animals 07802 404 929 who is in direct contact with St
Austell CID
http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/cornwall_news/4538606.Tortoise_theft_from_St_Austell/
COLUMBUS DISPATCH (Ohio) 10 August 09 Crawl-away tortoise found alive and well
three streets from home (Meredith Heagney)
Ophelia the
tortoise is back home, munching on melon and trying to avoid being trampled by
a 17-month-old.
His owners,
Lisa Dupler and Nicole Zahrndt, had been searching frantically for the African
Spur Thigh tortoise for five days. Ophelia tunneled out of the backyard of
their North Linden home on Homecroft Drive.
They posted at
least 100 fliers around the neighborhood and pasted his description on
pet-finder Web sites, pleading with anyone who'd seen their beloved Ophelia to
bring him home.
Today, just
before noon, they got their wish.
Stacy
Sturgill, 24, called to say that her boyfriend, Louis Maher, 29, found him
yesterday outside the window of her apartment on Beulah Road. It would've been
quite a trek for Ophelia - Sturgill's apartment is nearly a mile away, and the
tortoise would have had to cross several streets.
Today, Maher
heard about a missing tortoise whose story was told in T he Dispatch, a reptile
so missed that its owners were offering a $100 reward.
So Sturgill
called Dupler, and the trade was made. Sturgill and Maher got $120, which they
planned to spend on an air conditioner.
Dupler and
Zahrndt, and their 17-month-old daughter, Teegan, got their precious Ophelia
back.
"It's
just a miracle," Zahrndt said, as Ophelia feasted on the plate of
watermelon that greeted him at home.
EVENING POST (Bristol, UK) 10 August 09 Shock over gang's snake attack on Bristol
boy
Residents have
spoken of their shock after a Bristol teenager was bitten by a snake during a
racist attack in Bradley Stoke.
The
14-year-old was reportedly held down as the snake was held in front of him.
He had to be
taken to Frenchay Hospital after the 4ft-long green reptile bit his right arm
in Merryweather Close on Saturday afternoon.
As first
reported by the Bristol Evening Post yesterday, the black teenager was
reportedly taunted with racist comments during the attack.
A 16 and
17-year-old are helping police with their inquiries following the incident.
When an
ambulance crew arrived at the scene at about 3.20pm they had to determine what
type of snake the teenager had been attacked with in order to take the most
appropriate course of action.
Incident
support officer Michael Howells said: “In order to try and identify the type of
snake I googled ‘snakes’ on my mobile to show the patient.
“He was
reasonably sure he could identify the type, so I sent the image to our control
room.”
Once the snake
had been identified the ambulance service were able to contact experts to find
out whether the reptile was poisonous.
Duty control
manager Oliver Tovey said: “We contacted Bristol Zoo to talk to their snake
expert. What we described they indicated was probably a type of python – so not
venomous.”
The teenager
was taken to Frenchay Hospital , Bristol for precautionary checks and is
believed to have returned home.
Mr Howells
said: “Although the patient was suffering breathing difficulties after the
attack, this was probably due to panic rather than a reaction to the bite – I
would probably be panicky if that happened to me.”
People living
in Merryweather Close were shocked by the incident.
Dot Powell
said: “I saw some young lads hanging around when I got home at about 12.30am
and there were some police around, but I wasn’t here when it happened.
“I was quite
shocked when I found out. It is disgusting. I cannot understand it.”
One woman who
lives in the close, but asked not be named, said: “I just cannot believe that
someone would do such a thing.
“You don’t
know what is going to happen next.”
Another woman,
who did not wish to be named, told the Evening Post that the snake was being
shown to some children ahead of the incident.
She said: “The
boy was tormenting the snake and was told several times not to do that.”
Police are
appealing for witnesses following the incident.
Avon and
Somerset Constabulary spokesman Wayne Baker said: “The teenager had been
subject to racist comments and then reportedly held down as a snake was held in
front of him, which bit his right arm.
“The boy was
taken to Frenchay Hospital with breathing problems, where he was treated for
the injury to his arm.
“Experts have
confirmed that the snake, described as green coloured and about 4ft long, was
not venomous.”
On Saturday
the Bristol Evening Post reported how a pet cat in Brislington was eaten
alive by a 13ft long Burmese python.
The owners of
Wilbur – Martin and Helen Wadey – are now calling for a change in the law that
would see snakes officially classed as dangerous animals.
Police would
like anyone who was in the Merryweather Close area at the time of the incident
to contact Staple Hill police station on 0845 456 7000.
THE SUN (London, UK) 10 August 09 Gang
attacks lad with 4ft python (John Coles)
A boy was
recovering yesterday after being held down by a gang of yobs and bitten by a
terrifying new weapon - a SNAKE.
The 4ft-long
green reptile sank its fangs into the 14-year-old's right arm, leaving two deep
puncture marks.
The helpless
lad had been pinned to the ground in a park by his tormentors, who also made
racist comments. They then ran off, leaving him shaking with fear.
Police were
called and an officer showed the boy internet pictures of snakes on his mobile
so he could identify the kind that bit him.
Cops checked
with zoo experts who said it sounded like a python - which is not venomous.
An ambulance
rushed the lad to Bristol's Frenchay Hospital where he was treated for the
injury, shock and breathing problems.
Yesterday two
boys aged 16 and 17 were being interviewed by police about the incident.
Cops were
treating it as a racially motivated assault. The lad - believed to be called
Dan and of Afro-Caribbean descent - was back at home in Patchway, Bristol,
following the attack in nearby Bradley Stoke.
A boy aged
nine who had been playing with Dan and lives on his street witnessed the
attack.
He said:
"I was playing with my friends when a group of older boys came up to us.
"They
pushed a 4ft-long snake towards Dan and it wrapped itself around his arm before
biting him."
The
nine-year-old's father, who did not wish to be identified, said: "My son
was absolutely terrified.
"I'm not
letting him play out on his own until police find out what happened. I want to
know where these young kids got these dangerous snakes from."
Incident
support officer Michael Howells said: "Although the patient was suffering
breathing difficulties after the attack, this was probably due to panic rather
than a reaction to the bite.
"I would
probably be panicky if that happened to me."
He added:
"In order to try and identify the type of snake I Googled 'snakes' on my
mobile to show the patient.
"He was
reasonably sure he could identify the type, so I sent the image to our control
room."
Pythons are
commonly kept as pets but, if agitated or unwell, can be aggressive - especially
if not kept at the right temperature or in a big enough enclosure. They can
grow up to 15 feet in length and have even been known to eat small humans in
south-east Asia.
Glen
Fairweather, head of reptiles at Colchester Zoo, Essex, explained how the boy
had a lucky escape. He said: "Pythons are just nasty. If he was bitten on
the face where the tissue is soft a python's teeth can rip so badly he could
have had hideous facial injuries.
"Their
teeth grip into the prey so it can't escape. You can't pull back so humans get
horrific injuries."
Avon and
Somerset police are appealing for witnesses to Saturday afternoon's attack in
Merryweather Close at around 3.20pm.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2578346/Gang-attacks-lad-with-4ft-python.html
TAMPA TRIBUNE (Florida) 10 August 09 Florida
lawmakers could force ban of Burmese pythons (Catherine Dolinski)
Tallahassee: Lawmakers may force the state Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission to ban sales of Burmese pythons and other
dangerous reptiles if the agency fails to act on its own.
Officials at
the state wildlife agency are now weighing the prospect of banning the sale and
trafficking of exotic pets on the state's list of Reptiles of Concern. The list
includes four species of python as well as the green anaconda and Nile monitor.
But the
proposed ban remains only in the discussion phase and would not take effect
until 2010 at the earliest.
That's not
good enough for state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, who plans to file legislation this
week that would prevent the sale and importation of such animals for private
ownership.
"We're
turning off the spigot," said Sobel, D-Hollywood. "Sometimes it takes
the Fish and Wildlife Commission a little too long to jump on an issue. They
may have information we don't have; on the other hand, sometimes an issue is so
outrageous that you can't just sit back and say, let's weigh the positives and
negatives. Sometimes you have to act. "
Concerns about
dangerous reptiles spiked in June after a captive Burmese python in Sumter
County escaped its terrarium and killed a sleeping toddler. Gov. Charlie Crist
called for a statewide Burmese python hunt, which has resulted so far in the
capture of at least six of the snakes.
With tens of
thousands of pythons loose in the Everglades and surrounding areas, the hunt is
"too little, too late," said Jennifer Hobgood, Florida director of
the Humane Society of the United States. "It's really incongruous to send
people to hunt these snakes without stopping the influx of them into the state."
Monday,
Hobgood wrote to Fish and Wildlife Commission Chairman Rodney L. Barreto urging
a ban on all "reptiles of concern" in Florida. Banning one species is
not enough, she wrote, because the trade in exotic animals simply shifts to
another species.
She noted a
decline in Burmese python importation that has coincided with increased trade
in anacondas. "These snakes can be deadly, and the discovery of an
anaconda in Florida's Big Cypress Swamp in 2004 highlighted concerns about
their invasive potential."
Wildlife
commission spokeswoman Pat Behnke said the prospect of a ban is
"complicated." Among the concerns: how to treat legal pet owners who
have gone through the state's permitting process. Florida currently requires a
$100 annual permit to own a reptile of concern.
Even if the
state grandfathers in existing pet owners, banning animals could cause pet shop
owners, breeders and importers to kill or dump large numbers of them into the
wild, warned Marshall Meyers, CEO and general counsel of the Washington,
D.C.-based Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.
Meyers said a
ban would undermine the permitting system the state has established for
responsible pet ownership. But Hobgood noted that the Sumter County python
owner lacked the proper permit. The case illustrates, she said, that the
current system is "inadequate."
Rather than
ban animals outright, the state could boost the penalties for illegal
ownership, Meyers suggested. "If the penalty is severe enough, it's
amazing how people will come into compliance."
SKY NEWS (London, UK) 10 August 09 Python
Licence Call After Race Attack On Boy (Dan Ashby)
There have
been calls for pythons to be classified as dangerous animals after a teenager
was attacked by a gang brandishing a snake.
A 14-year-old
was bitten after two attackers allegedly pinned the boy down and dangled the
reptile over him in Bradley Stoke, Bristol.
They hurled
racial insults at the boy, it is claimed, before the snake sunk its fangs into
his right arm.
In another
incident at the weekend, a python devoured a whole tabby cat.
Wilbur
strolled into a neighbour's garden - only to be eaten by the 13ft constrictor.
The RSPCA has
now repeated its call for Parliament to include the snakes in the Dangerous
Wild Animals Act, which would force buyers to get a licence.
It would mean
they would be classed in the same category as big cats, and there would be
minimum safety requirements when keeping them.
The RSPCA's
Calie Woozley said: "Our concern is that you can go into a pet shop and
buy this without any particular information or knowledge beforehand.
"You
really need to do your research first."
The group
issued a written warning to the python's owner after the tabby was
"crushed, asphyxiated and consumed whole".
The cat's
owners Martin and Helen Wadey heard "blood-chilling cries", but could
not get into their neighbour's house.
The RSPCA
later identified the "huge bulge" in the snake as the tabby's body.
Mr and Mrs
Wade have joined the RSPCA in calling for a change in the law so that pythons
are officially classed as dangerous animals.
They are
petitioning Downing Street to introduce a "Wilbur's amendment" to the
act.
Mr Wade said:
"Because of that [incident] Wilbur's little life was brutally snuffed out
and after death we have had nothing to say goodbye to, stroke for one last
time, mourn over, or bury.
"Our
lovely little Wilbur was slowly being digested by a serpent a short distance
from us."
The RSPCA said
there were no records for how many pythons there are in the UK, but it could be
anywhere between several thousand and 100,000.
DAILY MAIL (London, UK) 10 August 09 Pet cat
Wilbur 'swallowed whole' by python after straying into neighbour's garden
A couple whose
pet cat wandered into a neighbour's garden heard it screaming in agony as it
was crushed to death by a snake.
Wilbur the
four-year-old tabby fell prey to a 13ft Burmese python which had apparently
been left unattended by its owner.
Owners Martin
and Helen Wadey banged on the neighbour's door but there was no answer. It was
two days later before the python's owner Darren Bishop could be contacted by
the RSPCA.
A scan
confirmed that it had a 'micro-chipped animal' inside its gut.
At the
couple's home in Brislington, Bristol, Mr Wadey, 44, a lorry driver, said: 'We
don't know whether Wilbur stumbled across the snake and it was an opportunistic
kill, or if the snake was actively hunting him.
'But either
way, we heard the python's strike from the terrified scream that came from
Wilbur, and the cries as he fought for his life.
'Then in less
than a minute, all was silent. He never stood a chance against a creature with
such immense power, Wilbur was crushed, asphyxiated and consumed whole. It was
so traumatic for us.
'The sound of
his cries and the fact we were so close by but couldn't help him has been very
distressing.'
The owner of a
pet cat killed by a neighbour's snake wants pythons to be officially classed as
dangerous animals
The Wadeys
have launched a 'Justice for Wilbur' campaign calling for a change in the law
to force pet owners to apply for a licence before they can buy large snakes.
Because
Burmese pythons are not covered by the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, 1976,
anybody can buy one from a pet shop
- for around £130.
Mrs Wadey, 41,
a human resources manager, added: 'We do not want Wilbur's death to be in vain.
'We want those
sorts of snakes to be licensed and for owners to be prosecuted if they leave
them unattended as well as having to inform people living nearby that they own
one.'
The RSPCA
confirmed that one of its inspectors attended after the incident on June 25 and
issued a verbal warning to the owner of the snake about 'appropriate housing
and care requirements'.
The Wadeys
claim that the python was regularly let out into their neighbour's overgrown
garden, although it is not clear how it was prevented from escaping. Mr Bishop
refused to comment.
Spokesman Jude
Clay said: 'The RSPCA is not concerned about people keeping exotic animals as
pets as long as the owners are fully informed about what they are taking on and
seek professional advice.'
TIMES OF INDIA (New Delhi) 10 August 09 Baby
crocodile rescued at Poriem
Keri: A baby crocodile, which was lying in a
roadside pit at Chinchmala-Poriem, Sattari, was rescued on Saturday by
volunteers of Vivekananda environment awareness brigade, Keri. The reptile was
later released in its natural habitat.
Sighting of
the baby crocodile has frightened villagers as during the last several years
marsh crocodiles had become extinct in Poriem and surrounding areas. Most river
systems and their connected streams and lakes once had several crocodiles,
locally known as the mugger'. In summer, those living in transitory waters
either aestivate (sleep during summer) or migrate during the night to more
permanent sources of water.
When
Chandrakant Shinde got the information about the baby crocodile, he along with
Vivek Parodkar and Deepak Gawas rushed to the spot and successfully trapped the
reptile.
According to
Shinde, "As there was a large crowd around it, the crocodile panicked and
bit the finger of one of our volunteers." There is a possibility of this
crocodile living largely on fish from the nearby Valvont River and had come out
for basking in the sunlight.
SUNSHINE COAST DAILY (Maroochydore,
Australia) 10 August 09 Turtle volunteers' work never done
(Nikkii Joyce)
Four thousand
successful sea-bound hatchlings, 56 nests and well over 100 volunteers made up
the Sunshine Coast's turtle conservation efforts last year.
Volunteers say
at the very least, they hope these local efforts for 7% of Australia's
endangered loggerhead turtle population contribute to bringing the marine
animal back from the brink.
If not, there
is always Arthur "Charlie" Burton and his "angels".
The original
Sunshine Coast volunteer of Turtle Care Caloundra and his heaven-sent crew –
wife Pat, Rhondda Alexander, and Jodie Howton – met with other volunteers at a
lunch celebrating the previous hatching season's success.
"We gave
him that name at Mon Repos five years ago because he was quite bossy,"
wife Pat said with a laugh, to which her husband replied he had to be as the
only male in the group.
Mr Burton said
the volunteers shared a single desire to ensure the survival of the marine
environment for future generations.
Turtle
monitoring volunteers Arthur Burton, Jodie Howton, Rhondda Alexander and Pat
Burton.
The large
number of hatchlings recorded that made it to the ocean is impressive, but should
not be confused with any overall survival rate or any indication of an increase
in juvenile numbers, according to volunteers.
"It is
only a very small percentage of those that make it to the ocean that
survive," Ms Howton said. "But that's four more turtles than what
would have survived if we hadn't intervened."
Turtle Care
Sunshine Coast coordinator Julie O'Connor said the female turtles, who only
nest ever three years, made 56 nests last year between Caloundra's Kings Beach
and Noosa Heads.
She said traditional
hatching problems such as disorientation due to artificial lights had been kept
to a minimum due to the efforts of Sunshine Coast Regional Council and
volunteers.
The turtle
season begins in early November and continues through until February.
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/aug/10/turtle-volunteers-work-never-done/
NEW KERALA (India) 10 August 09 Septuagenarian
killed in crocodile's attack
Kendrapada
(UNI): A septuagenarian of Ranipokhari
village under Aul block was killed today when a salt water crocodile attacked
him while he was taking bath in Kharasrota river.
According to
locals, an adult crocodile pounced on the old man and he died on the spot.
Later the
locals fished out the body from the river and brought the matter before the DFO
of Rajnagar. Police have sent the body for autopsy at Aul community health
centre.
The
man-reptile conflict in this coastal district had claimed as many as three
human lives during the last six months. Over a dozen others were injured since
January last.
The human
retaliation, on the other hand, had resulted in the death of at least two
giant-size adult crocodiles.
Forest
officials said the saltwater crocodiles from the Bhitarkanika wildlife
sanctuary had been straying into the Petashala and Kharasrota rivers.
With the
breeding season of these reptiles on its peak, they have turned restive.
Disturbed over human interference into their habitat, they often attacked human
beings.
The
man-crocodile conflict and consequent loss of human lives, is mostly recorded during
the monsoon and winter months, the nesting season of the estuarine crocodiles.
The number of
crocodiles in Bhitarkanika river system, has been rising steadily.The latest
census revealed the presence of more than 1,572 crocodiles in the water bodies of
Bhitarkanika National Park.
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-89971.html
WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY NEWS (Lexington,
Virginia) 10 August 09 W&L Team Tracking Potential New
Salamander Species (Sarah Tschiggfrie)
They've been
living on a small ridge in the Blue Ridge mountains probably for centuries, but
only now are they being discovered.
What may prove
to be a new species of salamander is being investigated in the George
Washington National Forest by a Washington and Lee University professor and his
students.
"I think
it's very exciting from a local biodiversity perspective," said David
Marsh, associate professor of biology at W&L.
"Some
peaks in the Blue Ridge mountains are the equivalent of the Galapagos Islands
for salamanders," said Marsh. "These mountains never had glaciers, so
salamanders have been up there for a very long time. Groups of salamanders
probably became isolated on some of the ridgetops and went off on their own
evolutionary trajectories."
Marsh and two
W&L students have spent the summer conducting ongoing research into a
possible new species called the Sherando salamander. It lives on top of a tiny
ridge 20 miles north of the University's Lexington campus. The range of the
salamander appears to be only about six kilometers long and to extend three
kilometers on each side.
"We want
to find out if the Sherando is, in fact, a new species," said Marsh.
"Where on the ridge does this new salamander begin and the other more
common Red Back salamander, which lives further down the ridge, stop? How did
the Sherando get on top of this one little ridge top by itself? How long has it
been isolated?"
W&L junior
Claire Bayer and senior Andrew Sackman are both biology majors who have spent
the summer trying to answer these questions. They have been catching the
salamanders, taking samples and then testing their DNA in the lab. Bayer is a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow; Sackman is a R.E. Lee Research Scholar.
Although this
summer's work has been primarily in the lab, the students started their
research catching the salamanders in the field during a spring term class on
field biology, since salamanders are most active in the spring and easier to
find.
Easier is a
relative term.
"We
flipped over rocks, turned over lots of logs, and dug through leaf litter to
try and find them," said Bayer. "Sometimes we would search for two or
three hours and find only one or two salamanders."
The
salamanders are small - their bodies are about four centimeters long with their
tails adding another two or three centimeters. So they're hard to spot in the
first place. But it's also difficult to distinguish between the Sherando and
Red Back salamanders. Marsh described the Red Back as "a little brown
thing with a red stripe. It's by far the most common amphibian in the eastern
United States and the two species look very similar at first glance. This is
one reason new species are still being discovered."
But the new
species does have some differences. For example, the limbs of the Sherando
salamander tend to be longer and the trunk is shorter because they have fewer
ribs. Measuring those characteristics helped the students identify the new
species.
Once they
caught the salamanders, the students pinched off a little bit of tissue from
the tail to take back to campus for analysis. "It's actually the least
destructive technique to gather tissue samples," said Marsh, "because
salamanders regrow their tails naturally."
Marsh
explained that classifying the salamanders based on how they look is just
preliminary, and that the main classification is done back in the lab.
Bayer said
that although she prefers field work and seeing the creatures in their natural
environment, the lab work is interesting. "We extract the DNA from our
tissue samples and go through several steps to purify it and make sure there
are no contaminants. Then we use a machine to sequence the DNA.
"We look
at the string of letters we get from this sequencing. If all the Sherandos look
one way and all the Red Backs look different, then we know we have two different
species. But if the two species actually have some DNA in common. then that
would prove they are interbreeding where their habitats overlap.
But it's not
that clear cut. Bayer said it depends on your definition of species.
"Some
scientists say that if they interbreed at all and have fertile offspring then
they are not a new species. Other people say that even if they interbreed, as
long as their DNA is different, then they are a different species," she
said.
So what will
happen if the Sherando is determined to be a new species?
Marsh said
that the salamanders are found mostly on land managed by the U.S. Forest
Service, and added that the Forest Service is paying for a good chunk of this
work, "because they are responsible for managing all the rare species on
Forest Service land. If this turns out to be a new species, it will be one of
the most spatially restricted species in North America. It will affect how the
Forest Service manages these lands and may affect timber harvesting policy,
mining and other things that go on in the area."
Marsh said the
research has progressed well this summer, and the W&L team hopes to provide
the Forest Service with a definitive answer on the Sherando salamander by the
fall.
HERALD TRIBUNE (Sarasota, Florida) 10 August
09 Editorial:
Land of the reptiles - Florida needs protection from pythons and other invasive
species
Tourists and
other money-spending travelers are welcome in Florida -- especially now, during
this debilitating economic recession.
But some
visitors -- such as Burmese pythons, iguanas and Nile monitors -- need to be
stopped at the border.
Unlike
snowbirds, who contribute to our state and local economies in the winter and
return to their roosts up North, exotic reptiles stay here -- and multiply.
Invasive
species harm the environment, native wildlife and, in some cases, people. They
offer no economic benefit, except to a few importers, sellers and zoo keepers.
A ban on
importing pythons, as proposed in federal legislation, is warranted. Sponsored
by two Florida Democrats -- Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Kendrick Meek -- S 373
and HR 2811 would add pythons to the list of "injurious species"
prohibited from being imported into the United States.
Rep. Tom
Rooney, a Florida Republican whose district includes part of Charlotte County,
recently voted for a narrower version of HR 2811 in the House Judiciary
Committee. He amended the bill so only Burmese pythons and African rock pythons
would be prohibited.
Rooney told
Herald-Tribune writer Jeremy Wallace that lobbyists for the U.S. Association of
Reptile Keepers and the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council thought the
original bill was "too broad."
Although the
broad bill is supported by The Humane Society of the United States and People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Rooney said he feared it would fail
without the amendment.
Who knew the
ARK and the PIJAC had such political clout?
The wisdom of
allowing the importation of any exotic, constrictor snake escapes us, but,
whatever the case, it's vital for Congress to enact new limits on the most
dangerous and prolific species.
Federal laws
and state regulations now in place have failed to prevent the numbers of exotic
reptiles from growing exponentially. The python population in Everglades National
Park, for instance, has multiplied from several hundred less than 10 years ago
to at least 30,000 today (some credible estimates rise to 100,000).
Park rangers
and biologists say the constrictors are killing numerous wading birds and other
native wildlife. Since pythons don't have natural predators, they could
continue to multiply unless controls are employed. Measures to allow controlled
hunting and humane killing of pythons in the Everglades are a necessary
short-term step.
But the
presence of pythons isn't limited to the Everglades' vast expanses of warm,
shallow water and sawgrass.
Two
constrictors were recently found on the loose in Manatee County: a relatively
small ball python in a residential neighborhood in east Bradenton, and a
14-foot Burmese python in a drainage pipe near an east Manatee shopping center.
The larger creature, said the trapper, is big enough to swallow a 7-year-old
child.
As some
experts have said, the public debate over pythons lends itself to hyperbole.
But some dissected pythons have contained the remains of wild animals that
reach or exceed the size of humans.
A
well-publicized incident last month showed that a python doesn't have to
swallow a child to inflict death: An 8-foot python escaped from its cage and
strangled a 2-year-old girl in Sumter County.
Authorities
said the python's owner, who lived with the girl's mother, didn't have the
required state permit for owning a constrictor, which Florida considers a
"reptile of concern."
Possession of
a python -- or other reptiles such as green anacondas and Nile monitors --
without a permit is a second-degree criminal misdemeanor in Florida. But, in
the case of the child's death, a misdemeanor conviction pales in comparison to
the damage done.
So far,
attacks on humans are relatively rare: Sen. Nelson told Congress that pythons
have attacked 17 people in the past 10 years, resulting in seven deaths.
But there is
no good reason for state and federal laws to allow the importation or
possession of exotic reptiles as pets -- especially in light of the
environmental damage that is sure to occur if pythons are released, as they
often are.
Florida should
support federal efforts to limit public access to pythons and similar reptiles
by classifying them as Class 1 animals. State law bans personal possession of
Class 1 wildlife such as lions, tigers, bears and large apes. Pythons and other
constrictors should be under the same restriction.
County
governments should get in the act by launching efforts to eradicate not only
pythons, if they are found, but other exotic reptiles clearly flourishing in
Southwest Florida. Although Sarasota County hasn't been plagued by pythons, it
has allocated $50,000 in an attempt to limit the proliferation of exotic
reptiles -- before populations get out of control or become too costly to
contain.
A recent
report said a trapper claims to have killed at least 150 iguanas in south
Sarasota County parks. A reproducing colony of black spiny-tailed iguanas
established itself along Midnight Pass Road south of Siesta Key Beach;
previously, these colonies had only been found to the south, in Venice and
Englewood and on Manasota Key.
In addition,
monitor lizards, previously seen only in Englewood, have been sighted in The
Landings subdivision off U.S. 41 in central Sarasota County and along the
Interstate 75 corridor, particularly around the Celery Fields just south of
Fruitville Road.
Pay now, or
pay later
It's easy to
make light of the challenge, especially when local budgets are severely
strained. But since there's evidence of migrations to the north, consider that,
to the south, Charlotte and Lee counties have spent a combined $230,000 for
iguana removal since 2007.
Part of
Sarasota County's recent allocation will go toward creating a management plan
to identify and eradicate invasive species -- with a focus on public lands.
Since neighboring Manatee County has extensive holdings of open lands -- both
inland and on the coast -- we would encourage a partnership with Sarasota
County to share resources and information.
As we've said
before, Florida has too often waited too long to control invasive species. The
results have been ugly and expensive to repair. We can pay a little now, or we
can pay more later.
WPLG (Miami, Florida) 10 August 09 2,000-Pound
Crocodile Dies - 47-Year-Old 'Crocosaurus' Among Largest Of Kind
Miami: A 2,000-pound crocodile believed to be among
the largest of his kind has died at a popular Miami tourist attraction.
Hank the
Crocosaurus was 47 years old when handlers found him dead at the bottom of his
pool Saturday at Jungle Island.
Hank was 3
feet tall and 20 feet long, twice as big as the other crocodiles there.
It took eight
men and a lift to get Hank out of his pool. A cause of death has not been
determined.
There is no
such thing as a crocosaurus, but park officials adopted the name because of
Hank's mammoth size.
http://www.justnews.com/news/20343969/detail.html
HAMBURGER ABENDBLATT (Germany) 10
August 09 Reptiliennarr (50) zum dritten Mal von eigener Klapperschlange gebissen
(Sascha Balasko)
Manfred K.
lernt einfach nicht dazu. Zum dritten Mal wurde der 50 Jahre alte Reptiliennarr
von einer seiner Klapperschlangen in seiner Wohnung gebissen. Zum dritten Mal
bangen Ärzte um sein Leben. Ob das Gegenserum wirkt, wird sich erst später
zeigen. Noch liegt der Mann im künstlichen Koma.
Am
Sonnabendmittag rief Manfred K. bei der Feuerwehr an. Er sei beim Füttern von
einer Zwergklapperschlange gebissen worden. Er ist bei den Rettern kein
Unbekannter. Sie wissen, dass er in seiner kleinen Zwei-zimmerwohnung an der
Lisztstraße in Ottensen Vipern, Ottern, Mambas, Klapper- und Würgeschlangen
hält. Sofort rasten Feuerwehrleute nach Ottensen. Vorsichtig brachen sie die
Wohnungstür auf, um nicht ebenfalls in Kontakt mit den Giftschlangen zu kommen.
Manfred K. war zu dieser Zeit bereits in Ohnmacht gefallen. Das Gift des
gefährlichen Reptils hatte schon zu wirken begonnen.
Die Ärzte
trugen den verletzten Mann in das Treppenhaus und verschlossen die Tür. Dort
begannen sie, den 50-Jährigen zu reanimieren. Gleichzeitig hatte die Leitstelle
der Feuerwehr auch das Tropeninstitut informiert und das Gegengift geordert. Im
Universitätskrankenhaus Eppendorf (UKE) wurde ihm das Serum gespritzt.
Bereits 2004
wurde Manfred K. von einer Klapperschlange gebissen, als er sie aus dem
Terrarium holte. Er fiel sofort in Ohnmacht und wachte erst zwei Stunden später
wieder auf. Erst dann gelang es ihm, die Feuerwehr zu rufen. Er überlebte nur
knapp. Damals wurde das ganze Ausmaß seiner Reptilien-Obsession sichtbar. In
seinem Wohnzimmer hatte er zehn Terrarien, in der Küche drei weitere. Insgesamt
hielt er dort 21 Schlangen.
Acht Jahre
zuvor wurde ihm seine bizarre Neigung zu Giftschlangen zum ersten Mal zum
Verhängnis. Er wurde ebenfalls beim Füttern seiner Klapperschlangen von einem
der Reptilien in den Daumen gebissen. Mit letzter Kraft schleppte er sich zu
einem Nachbarn, erklärte ihm stammelnd von dem Unfall und brach anschließend
regungslos zusammen.
Ob der
50-Jährige auch dieses Mal überlebt, ist noch nicht gewiss. Es heißt
allerdings, dass er trotz der kleinen Wohnung seine giftigen Reptilien
artgerecht gehalten habe. Sollte er sie nicht mehr versorgen können, kämen sie
ins Tierheim Süderstraße.
EXPRESS (Köln, Germany) 10 August 09 Schlangen-Narr
von eigener Viper gebissen - Koma!
Hamburg: Eine skurrile Liebe, die vielleicht bis in
den Tod geht: Der Hamburger Manfred K. (50) lebt in einer Wohnung mit über
einem Dutzend hochgiftiger Schlangen. Seine Passion wird ihm jetzt aber unter
Umständen endgültig zum Verhängnis.
Neueste
Meldungen › Mehr aus Deutschland & Welt › K. wurde beim Füttern seiner
Gabunvipern (bis zu zwei Meter lang, zehn Kilo schwer) von einer der Schlangen
gebissen. Er rief noch den Notruf, brach dann zusammen.
Die Retter mussten die Tür aufbrechen. Da keiner
wusste, ob nicht eine der Schlangen ausgebrochen war, mussten zwei
Feuerwehrleute den leblosen Körper K.s durch die Tür auf den Flur zerren.
Der
Schlangen-Narr kam ins Krankenhaus, das extra ein Gegengift aus dem
Tropeninstitut einfliegen ließ.
Heikel:
Manfred K. war seit 1996 bereits zweimal von seinen eigenen
"Tierchen" gebissen worden. Aber er scheint einfach nicht aus seinen
Fehlern lernen zu wollen.
Nun steht es
nicht gut um den Reptilisten. K. schwebte zunächst in Lebensgefahr, musste ins
künstliche Koma versetzt werden. Das Gift der Gabunviper ist noch nicht
komplett erforscht. Es führt zu einem schnellen Abbau des Blutdrucks, inneren
Blutungen, Blutgerinnungsstörungen und zu Herzmuskelschwäche.
Strafrechtlich
wird der 50-Jährige nicht belangt werden können. Aber Jan Knoll, der
Schlangen-Experte der Feuerwehr, sagte zur "Hamburger Morgenpost":
"Was der Mann macht, ist unverantwortlich. Offenbar züchtet er auch. Die
Tiere in dieser Menge zu halten, stellt eine Gefahr für die Allgemeinheit
dar."
ÄRZTE ZEITUNG (Offenbach, Germany) 10 August
09 Mann
von eigener Giftschlange gebissen – Lebensgefahr
Hamburg
(DPA): Ein 49-jähriger Hamburger ist am Sonntag
erneut von einer seiner Giftschlangen gebissen worden. Der Mann alarmierte noch
selbst die Rettungskräfte, wie die Feuerwehr am Montag mitteilte. Helfer
brachen die Tür auf und fanden das Opfer bewusstlos in der Wohnung. Der
49-Jährige wurde reanimiert und in ein Krankenhaus gebracht.
Da der Mann in
Lebensgefahr schwebte, lieferte das Tropeninstitut ein Gegengift ins
Krankenhaus. Vermutlich hatte eine Gabunviper den 49-Jährigen gebissen.
Bereits 2004
musste der Hamburger nach einem Klapperschlangenbiss behandelt werden. Nach
einem Bericht des "Hamburger Abendblatts" hatte der Mann auch schon
acht Jahre zuvor einen Biss von einer Klapperschlange nur knapp überlebt.
Diesen Vorfall konnte die Polizei jedoch nicht bestätigen.
Weil nicht
klar war, was die Helfer erwartete, zogen zwei Feuerwehrleute den leblosen
Körper vorsichtig aus der Wohnung heraus. Ein Schlangenexperte der Feuerwehr
fand jedoch kein frei herumkriechendes Reptil. Da noch Mäuse in den Terrarien
hockten, geht die Feuerwehr davon aus, dass der Mann beim Füttern gebissen
wurde. Er lebt mit zahlreichen exotischen Schlangen in seiner Wohnung.
Strafrechtlich
wird der 49-Jährige nicht belangt. "Es gibt keine Vorschriften, die das
Halten solcher Tiere verbieten", sagte ein Polizeisprecher am Montag.
http://www.aerztezeitung.de/panorama/?sid=561620
EL MERCURIO (Santiago, Chile) 10 August 09 Pandilla
británica ataca a adolescente con una serpiente
Londres (AFP): Una pandilla
inmovilizó a un adolescente de 14 años en la ciudad de Bristol y lo atacó con
una serpiente, obligando al reptil a morderlo en el brazo, indicó hoy la
policía británica.
La policía indicó, que interrogaba a dos adolescentes sobre la agresión,
cree que el hecho tuvo motivaciones raciales.
El joven fue llevado al hospital el sábado para un tratamiento luego de
que la serpiente, al parecer una culebra pitón de 1,2 metros, que no era
venenosa, lo mordiera en el brazo, indicó la policía.
"El adolescente fue objeto de comentarios racistas y aparentemente
lo inmovilizaron en el suelo" para luego ser mordido por el reptil, indicó
un vocero de la policía.
http://www.emol.com/noticias/internacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=370911
BBC (London, UK) 10 August 09 Gangue
usa cobra em ataque a jovem no Reino Unido
Uma gangue de criminosos usou uma píton de 1,2 metro de comprimento para
atacar um jovem de 14 anos no meio da rua, forçando o réptil a mordê-lo.
A polícia suspeita que o ataque, em Bradley Stoke, pode ter tido um
elemento racista e pede que testemunhas entrem em contato.
menino foi preso no chão no sábado à tarde, enquanto um dos membros da
gangue segurou a cobra --que não é venenosa--, forçando-a a mordê-lo.
Dois jovens de 16 e 17 anos de idade estão sendo interrogados pela
polícia. A vítima foi levada a um hospital para ser examinada.
Emboscada
A polícia e a RSPCA, uma ONG britânica de proteção aos animais, estão
investigando o incidente. Os paramédicos que prestaram os primeiros socorros,
ainda na rua, procuraram o zoológico de Bristol para pedir ajuda.
"Os funcionários presentes na ambulância consultaram o Google e
especialistas do zoológico de Bristol depois que um adolescente foi atacado por
um grupo de jovens", disse um porta-voz do serviço de ambulâncias da
região.
Segundo o
porta-voz, os jovens forçaram a cobra a morder o braço do rapaz, deixando dois
furos.
As pítons normalmente caçam por emboscada e esmagam sua presa para
matá-la.
"Apesar de o paciente ter sofrido dificuldades para respirar depois
do ataque, isso provavelmente foi causado por pânico e não em reação à mordida.
Eu provavelmente entraria em pânico se tivesse ocorrido comigo", disse um
dos membros da equipe da ambulância que atendeu a vítima, Michael Howells.
"O adolescente foi vítima de comentários racistas e depois teria
sido mantido no chão enquanto a cobra foi segurada em frente a ele e mordeu seu
braço direito", disse um porta-voz da polícia de Avon e Sommerset, na
região.
"O jovem
foi levado para o hospital com dificuldade para respirar e teve o ferimento do
braço tratado."
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/bbc/ult272u607510.shtml
NACIONAL (Zagreb, Croatia) 10 August 09 Rasisticki
napad u Britaniji: Pitonom mucili tamnoputog djecaka
Djecak je zbog
problema s disanjem prebacen u bolnicu u Frenchayu gdje su mu zbrinuli ozljedu
na ruci
Piton veci od
metra iskorišten je u Bristolu za mucenje jednog 14-godišnjaka, kojeg su
napadaci pridržavali na tlu dok ga je zmija grizla, objavila je u ponedjeljak
britanska policija.
Tamnoputi
djecak bio je meta rasistickih komentara, a potom su ga pridržavali na tlu i
mucili zmijom, koja ga je ugrizla za desnu ruku, rekao je glasnogovornik
policije Avona i Somerseta.
"Djecak
je zbog problema s disanjem prebacen u bolnicu u Frenchayu gdje su mu zbrinuli
ozljedu na ruci", dodao je.
Policija je u
vezi s tim incidentom, koji se dogodio u subotu, ispitala dvojicu djecaka u dobi
od 16 i 17 godina. "Pacijent je poslije napada imao respiratornih
problema, no to je vjerojatno zbog panike, a ne reakcije na ugriz", rekao
je medicinski tehnicar Oliver Tovey.
Piton nije zmija otrovnica.
http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/64484/rasisticki-napad-u-britaniji-pitonom-mucili-tamnoputog-djecaka
KOMPAS (Jakarta, Indonesia) 10 August
09 Jangan
Hanya Semata Polemik (Oleh Gesit Ariyanto)
Satwa langka
komodo (Varanus komodoensis) diyakini
telah menghuni tanah kering Nusa Tenggara mungkin jutaan tahun silam. Munculnya
isu relokasi lima pasang komodo dari Pulau Flores menyebabkan komodo menjadi
satwa yang mengundang komentar banyak kalangan.
Selama dua
pekan pemberitaan gencar di berbagai media. Sebagian besar menolak rencana
pemindahan komodo ke Taman Safari Indonesia III Gianyar, Bali.
"Saya
benar-benar shock," kata Kepala Pusat Penelitian Biologi Lembaga Ilmu
Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) Siti Nuramaliati Prijono di kantornya, akhir pekan
lalu. Bukan saja karena pemberitaan menolak pemindahan yang santer setiap hari
itu, melainkan juga karena data populasi yang diterimanya.
Pihak LIPI,
selaku otoritas keilmuan yang wajib diminta rekomendasinya-termasuk rencana
konservasi di luar habitat alam (ex situ)-meletakkan dasar rekomendasi
berdasarkan laporan jumlah populasi 650 ekor di Pulau Flores. Surat resmi
Departemen Kehutanan (Dephut) menyebutkan, 300 ekor komodo dilaporkan hidup di
Cagar Alam Wae Wuul, Manggarai Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur.
Setelah muncul
penolakan dari banyak kalangan, Dephut merevisi populasi komodo di Cagar Alam
Wae Wuul menjadi 17 ekor saja, bandingkan dengan data awal 300 ekor! ”Bagaimana
mungkin kami tidak percaya dengan data yang diberikan dulu?” kata Siti,
terheran.
Sebuah laporan
riset ”Dugaan Kelimpahan, Kepadatan, Laju Survival Tahunan, dan Laju
Pertumbuhan Populasi Biawak Komodo di Balai Taman Nasional Komodo” memberikan
gambaran kritisnya populasi komodo.
Riset oleh
lembaga Komodo Survival Program yang didesain Jeri Imansyah tahun 2002 hingga
2006 menuliskan jumlah 1.435 ekor komodo dari 10 lembah di Pulau Komodo, Gili
Motang, Rinca, dan Nusa Kode.
"Studi
kami mengindikasikan populasi di Gili Motang dan Nusa Kode perlu perhatian
intensif untuk cegah kepunahan," kata Jeri. Adapun pihak Dephut menyebut
total populasi komodo masih lebih dari 2.500 ekor.
Menurut Jeri,
Komodo Survival Program juga turun mengidentifikasikan komodo di Flores,
khususnya di Cagar Alam Wae Wuul. Pada survei 22 hari, Juni-Juli 2009, mereka
mengidentifikasi 17 ekor komodo berbobot di bawah 20 kilogram.
Salah satu
kesimpulan penelitian adalah populasi komodo di Wae Wuul rentan punah karena
minimnya mangsa utama: rusa timor. Satu-satunya jalan adalah pengelolaan
habitat alami untuk meningkatkan lagi populasi komodo di Flores. Di samping
itu, kebakaran hutan harus dicegah.
Populasi
komodo di dua pulau tersebut berada di bawah ambang batas teoretis—menunjukkan
gejala kepunahan-yakni di bawah 100 ekor dalam satu populasi. "Jumlah 17
ekor di satu populasi, seperti di Wae Wuul, bisa dibilang tinggal menunggu
waktu punah," kata Siti.
Tanpa mangsa mencukupi akan terjadi kanibalisme. Perkembangbiakan alami
terganggu karena akan terjadi kawin keluarga (inbreeding)—keturunannya berdaya
tahan rendah.
Komodo memiliki sifat partenogenesis, yaitu komodo betina membuahi
telurnya sendiri apabila tidak bertemu jantan. ”Keturunannya jantan semua,”
kata Siti. Seiring waktu jantan anakan itu kemungkinan akan kawin dengan
induknya sendiri.
Reptil purba
dengan endemisitas di Indonesia ini jauh dari perhatian pemerintah. Komodo
layak disebut sebagai harta karun terbengkalai. Deputi Bidang Ilmu Hayati LIPI
Endang Sukara menyebutkan hal itu, Selasa (4/8) di Jakarta.
"Tidak
ada dana riset pemerintah untuk terus menelusuri perkembangan komodo. Data
sangat minim, itu pun dari riset orang asing," ujar Endang.
Intervensi
segera
Mempertimbangkan
populasi belasan ekor komodo di Wae Wuul atau di bawah 100 ekor di kawasan
lain, dibutuhkan campur tangan segera untuk mengurangi risiko kepunahan.
"Konservasi
di luar habitat atau di dalam habitat alami harus cukup pakan, cukup tutupan
lahan yang memberi perlindungan, dan populasi jantan-betina dengan kekerabatan
jauh yang cukup," kata Siti.
Dalam jangka
pendek, pendataan komodo di Wae Wuul perlu dilakukan untuk memastikan jumlah,
tingkat kekerabatan, ketersediaan pakan, dan tingkat keterancamannya.
Sementara itu,
peneliti Komodo Survival Program berharap Menteri Kehutanan membatalkan rencana
pemindahan lima pasang komodo dari Wae Wuul. Sebaliknya, pemerintah memberi
perlindungan khusus untuk populasi yang tersisa dengan bantuan dari Asosiasi
Kebun Binatang Asia Tenggara (EAZA), yang memiliki buku silsilah sejumlah
komodo yang ditangkarkan di sejumlah kebun binatang.
Koordinator
Program Komodo Survival Program Deni Purwandana menyatakan, koleksi komodo di penangkaran
dapat dicukupkan dari penangkaran-penangkaran lain yang sukses.
Polemik
diharapkan tidak berakhir menang-kalah para pihak yang berkepentingan, tetapi
berujung pada penyelamatan komodo dari kepunahan yang sudah di depan mata.
Jeri dan
Endang Sukara sepakat, konservasi komodo butuh keseriusan pemerintah.
"Butuh keputusan presiden untuk menetapkan lembaga koordinator riset dan
pengembangan komodo," ujar Endang Sukara.
Menurut Jeri,
belum terlambat menangani ancaman kepunahan komodo. Selama masih tersisa,
seperti 17 ekor di Wae Wuul, peluang mempertahankannya dari ancaman kepunahan
masih tetap ada.
http://nasional.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/08/10/12053718/Jangan.Hanya.Semata.Polemik
PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER (Ontario) 09
August 09 Indian River Reptile Zoo to the rescue (Sarah Deeth)
Ten vials of
antivenin from the Indian River Reptile Zoo were rushed to a Parry Sound
hospital to help save a person bitten by a Massasauga rattlesnake.
Bry Loyst,
curator for the Highway 7 zoo, located near Norwood, said the OPP picked the
antidote up and took it to the hospital yesterday afternoon.
Loyst said he
didn't know anything about the bitten person or the circumstances of the bite,
though the patient had already been given a dose of antivenin when he was
called.
"Sometimes
bites can have a reoccurrence," he said.
The Massasauga
rattlesnake is Ontario's only venomous snake.
It lives in
pockets near Parry Sound, Georgian Bay and Windsor, Loyst said.
Hospitals
usually have a supply of antivenin to treat snakebites, but supplies have been
critically low this year.
Loyst said
half of the zoo's supply was sent to the hospital, to treat the patient and to
stock up its supply.
"There
could be another bite at any time," he said.
Loyst wasn't
worried about the zoo's own stock.
There's never
been a bite at the zoo, he said.
"Our
concern was with saving a life."
Each year the
zoo receives several requests for antivenin, though it's the first time it has
received one from a hospital, he said.
The severity
of a snakebite depends on many factors such as a person's age and weight, where
they were bitten and how much venom was injected.
Lorraine
Vankoughnett, infection control manager at West Parry Sound Health Centre,
where the patient was treated, said she could only say that the patient is a
man who is in stable condition.
"We've
had several bites this year, which is common for us," she said.
It takes 12
vials of antivenin to treat a snakebite at a cost of $20,000 per treatment, she
said.
Three years
ago the hospital ran a depot program, distributing and monitoring antivenin use
at other hospitals throughout the province.
The government
cut that program, Vankoughnett said.
The antivenin
has a shelf life of about 2 1/2 years. It was designed to treat black diamond
rattlesnake bites.
That, factored
in with the high cost of the medication, caused some hospitals to stop
purchasing it because they may not see a snakebite for five years, she said.
West Parry
Sound Health Centre has purchase it, and has had to send antivenin to hospitals
that have none in stock.
The result is
a depletion of the hospital's own supply.
"We've
had to look elsewhere for it as a result," she said.
The hospital
is in contact with other provinces, zoos and places in the United States, she
said, gathering information on who has antivenin, should another emergency
arise.
Vankoughnett
said the Massasauga rattlesnake is a protected species, and a docile snake that
prefers to remain hidden and left alone.
Most people
don't see it until they're bitten or step on it.
It only grows
to about three feet long and its fangs are relatively short, she said.
People can
protect themselves from a Massasauga snakebite by wearing hiking boots and
loose-fitting jeans in the areas where the snake is found.
NOTE:The
antivenin used by most hospitals is called CroFab. The Indian River Reptile Zoo
sent the hospital a newer version of the antivenin, called Antivipmyn.
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1691649
ISLAND PACKET (Hilton Head Island, S Carolina)
09 August 09 Alligator hit by car euthanized by officer
A Beaufort
County sheriff's officer euthanized an alligator Saturday on Lady's Island
after it was critically injured by a car earlier that day, according to a
sheriff's report.
The alligator
was walking along Springfield Road near Middle Road when a car struck it and
drove off, according to the report. The alligator was bleeding from the mouth
and walked off the road. The accident did not appear to be malicious, according
to the report.
A witness
called the Sheriff's Office. After locating the alligator, the officer
requested help from an S.C. Department of Natural Resources official.
The DNR
representative said that based on its injuries, it should be shot. After
getting permission from his supervisors, the sheriff's officer shot one round
and killed the gator, according to the report.
http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/929975.html
BIRMINGHAM NEWS (Alabama) 09 August 09 You
don't need to make up big snake stories in the South (Mike Bolton)
I have spent
the past few weeks answering dozens of reader e-mails about a snake picture
that is making the rounds on the Internet. The picture purportedly shows a man
holding a dead 97-pound rattlesnake on a stick. The snake was supposedly killed
in Coffee County in south Alabama, according to the e-mails I have received.
Apparently a
lot of folks were absent that day in the fourth grade when the science teacher
talked about leverage. I'm letting those folks figure out the validity of the
Coffee County snake story by offering them a little experiment.
If someone has
sent you that photo and you are wondering if it is real, try this: Go find a
sturdy, six-foot-long stick. Attach a 97-pound weight to one end. Now pick it
up and hold the weighted end out in front of you.
The picture is
obviously nothing more than an average-size rattlesnake being held out on a
stick, making it appear extremely large.
People who
love real stories of big snakes need not fret for there are indeed big snakes
among us. Our southernmost neighbors are up to their eyeballs in them.
I've been
intrigued in recent weeks as Florida wildlife officials have begun a program to
eradicate south Florida, primarily the Everglades, of pythons. This is no New
York alligators-in-the-sewers urban tale.
Apparently
owners who have Burmese pythons for pets often release them into the wild when
they become too large and unruly to handle. In south Florida the pythons are
surviving the mild south Florida winters and reproducing.
Florida wildlife
officials estimate there are now tens of thousands of pythons slithering around
south Florida.
Want to hear a
true big snake tale? Last Thursday Florida conservation officers killed a
17-foot-2-inch python outside an Okeechobee, Fla., veterinary office. The
reptile weighed 207 pounds and measured 26 inches in diameter.
The snake was
scanned by veterinary officials and they found no microchips, which are often
imbedded in pythons so their owners can identify them if they get loose.
"The
capture of this large python shows us how well these snakes can thrive in the
wild and create a dangerous situation after illegal release or escape,"
said Florida wildlife commission chairman Rodney Barreto.
Who can blame
south Floridians if they are a little on edge about pythons in their midst? The
discovery of the giant python last week came less than a month after an 8½
-foot pet python in Oxford, Fla., slithered from its cage in the middle of the
night and killed a 2-year-old girl in her crib.
http://blog.al.com/outdoors-alabama/2009/08/bolton_you_dont_need_to_make_u.html
EVENING POST (Bristol, UK) 09 August 09 Teen attacked by Bristol gang 'brandishing
snake'
A teenager was
bitten by a snake during an attack by a gang of boys in Bristol.
The
14-year-old was bitten on the arm after he was set upon by the group.
The boy was
pinned down in Bradley Stoke, on Saturday afternoon, when he was bitten by the
reptile.
Great Western
Ambulance service (GWAS) said the boy had been set upon by gang armed with
several snakes.
GWAS said it
happened in Merryweather Close, Bradley Stoke, and the boy was pinned against a
wall.
Avon and
Somerset police have today confirmed that the incident took place in
Merryweather Close, but said that it involved only one snake.
A spokesman
said the victim was a black teenager who also suffered racist comments.
Avon and
Somerset police said the creature involved was a four-foot long green snake
used on the boy after he was pinned down on the ground.
A force
spokesman said today: "The teenager had been subject to racist comments
and then reportedly held down as a snake was held in front of him, which bit
his right arm.
"The boy
was taken to Frenchay Hospital with breathing problems, where he was treated
for the injury to his arm.
“Experts have
confirmed that the snake, described as green coloured and about four feet long,
was not venomous."
Two youths
aged 16 and 17, both boys, were being interviewed by police this afternoon
about the incident.
GWAS incident
support officer Michael Howells, who was at the scene, also revealed how he
used Google to identify the snake.
He said:
"In order to try and identify the type of snake I Googled 'snakes' on my
mobile to show the patient.
"He was
reasonably sure he could identify the type, so I sent the image to our control
room."
Duty control
manager Oliver Tovey added: "We contacted Bristol Zoo to talk to their
snake expert. What we described they indicated was probably a type of python –
so not venomous."
The teenager
was taken to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol for precautionary checks after being
attended to by paramedics at 3.15pm.
Mr Howells
added: "Although the patient was suffering breathing difficulties after
the attack, this was probably due to panic rather than a reaction to the bite –
I would probably be panicky if that happened to me."
NEW INDIAN EXPRESS (Chennai, India) 09 August 09 Star
tortoise found
Karimnagar: Forest officials today shifted an endangered
star tortoise to deer park run by district forest department on the outskirts
of Karimnagar town.
It was spotted
by two youth--Sashidhar and Manish at Shanigaram while they were on their way
to Karimnagar from Hyderabad in a car. They maintained that the tortoise was
found beneath their car parked on a road side in the wee hours of today.
They picked it
up in a plastic cover and later informed forest authorities.
Mumtaj Ali, a
forest official who collected the star tortoise from the youth at their home at
Jyothinagar, maintained that it belongs to rare species.
He said the
tortoise would be kept in the park for sometime and would be released into
forest later.
the tortoise
would be kept in the park for sometime and would be released into forest later.
DAILY COMET (Thibodaux, Louisiana) 09 August
09 Last
year’s storms curb this year’s alligator nesting (Nikki Buskey)
Photo:
A 14-foot alligator grabs a turtle in a marsh near Kraemer before
letting it go.
Houma: Alligator nesting is down by 43 percent this
year after hurricanes Gustav and Ike drowned Louisiana’s freshwater marshes in
salt.
But Wildlife
and Fisheries biologists say they’re not worried that alligator populations
took a significant hit, and the annual harvest, starting Aug. 26 and running
through Oct. 1, is still on.
In 2008,
Wildlife and Fisheries scientists found more than 43,000 alligator nests in
their annual survey, one of the highest numbers in program history.
In 2009, the
number of nests was down from last year by 43 percent statewide to about 24,500
nests. In southwest Louisiana, the number was down by 70 percent to about
10,000 nests, said Noel Kinler, a Wildlife and Fisheries biologist specializing
in alligators.
But fewer
nests doesn’t necessarily mean the gator population itself took a big hit.
A more-severe
drop in alligator nesting happened in 2006 after hurricanes Katrina and Rita,
and alligators bounced back quickly in 2007, Kinler said. That year, the number
of nests statewide dropped from a little more than 41,000 to just 20,000.
In 2007,
however, alligators nested in record numbers, Kinler said. The state recorded
42,000 nests.
Alligators
can’t tolerate salt water and avoid salty marshes, Kinler said. That’s why
saltwater flooding impacts them so severely.
“Those are
poor-quality habitats,” Kinler said. “When you have a situation like we did
this year, with saltwater floods and then drought conditions, the salinity is
too high for them. These are environmental conditions that aren’t conducive to
large-scale nest production.”
The stress
caused alligators to limit their reproduction and nesting, especially in
southwest Louisiana, closer to where Hurricane Ike struck Galveston.
Gerald Savoie
Jr. of Savoie’s Alligator Farm in Cut Off said he’s seen little impact on local
alligator populations from the 2008 hurricane season.
But less
nesting is the least of the alligator industry’s worries. Few farmers are even
gathering eggs due to declining interest in alligator skins this year.
“The market is
down; the recession is taking its toll,” Savoie said. “This is the first time
in 20 years we haven’t picked up any eggs.”
Alligator
skins are a luxury item predominantly sold on the international market, and
with fewer people boasting the extra money to buy gator-skin boots, wallets,
purses and shoes, demand has dropped, said Dan Davis with the Louisiana
Alligator Advisory Council.
During last
year’s harvest, 2,630 alligator hunters brought in 35,000 alligators last year
for $8.8 million in hide and $3.6 million in meat.
“The
hurricanes were minimal,” Davis said. “Right now, our biggest problem is the
market. There isn’t one.”
Wildlife and
Fisheries officials conduct aerial nest surveys each year to determine how many
gators can be safely taken during the annual harvest.
Locally,
they’re conducted over the Pointe-aux-Chenes Wildlife Management area. Harvest
numbers will be limited somewhat in southwest Louisiana, but officials are
allowing regular harvests to continue in the rest of the state.
NEWSDAY (Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago)
09 August 09 Nature Seekers – creating a safer world for Leatherback turtles
(Darcel Choy)
The
Leatherback turtle population worldwide is considered endangered but with the
intense efforts of Nature Seekers they have changed that in the Caribbean.
Nature Seekers
is a nonprofit, community-based organisation that was established in 1990. It
was originally formed with the goal to protect nesting Leatherback sea turtles
from poachers. The organisation patrols the beaches of Matura to keep poachers
away and to ensure that the turtles are allowed to nest, undisturbed.
As a result of
the organisation’s representatives’ regular presence on the beach, Nature
Seekers was commissioned by the Forestry Division to provide guide services to
visitors for turtle watching activities.
Today, Nature
Seekers is renowned for its efforts in protecting the endangered Leatherback
turtle and providing a unique tour service to visitors. While the core business
of Nature Seekers is the conservation of the endangered Leatherback turtle, the
occasional nature tour to the nearby Rio Saco Waterfall is facilitated by
members of the organisation.
The vision of
Nature Seekers is an environmentally friendly community by 2015, empowered with
the necessary skills and training enabling persons to work with each other,
generating sustainable livelihood while promoting community tourism and the
protection of our natural resources.
The mission of
Nature Seekers is to protect and conserve wild flora and fauna by developing
the natural and cultural resources of the community and providing superior
quality products and services for its customers and partners to achieve long
term valued relationships.
The projects
developed are also designed with the involvement of the community in natural
resource management and it allows them to realise the value of the economic
potential, as well as the sustainable livelihoods that can be derived from
conserving and protecting the natural resources.
The most
popular attraction in the area is the nesting activity of the endangered
Leatherback turtles. These turtles can be seen annually during the months of
March to August and recently, occasional sightings have been made during the
off-season period.
Managing
Director of Nature Seekers since 1995, Dennis Sammy pointed out a few projects
that the organisation has taken on to help both the turtles and the
environment.
“Our glass
bead project is one of our most recent projects. We collect bottles from the
beach and from people who would usually dump them in the garbage and we wash
the bottles and then melt them in an extremely high temperature and we do
crafts that include chains, earrings and key chains. The idea for
sustainability is balanced when you have litter management towards revenue
generation,” he said. This project is designed to teach the re-use of trash
glass collected on the turtle nesting beaches and other places, and provide a
sustainable income for people that might otherwise use the natural resources
unsustainably.
Another
project is their reforestation programme where they partner together with the
National Reforestation and Watershed Rehabilitation Programme (NRWRP) and go
into the neighbouring forest every day to prepare the land for planting.
“We have 35
workers who clear trails and lines so we could start planting trees in the
August to September period. Normally it is over 5000 to 9000 trees planted
every year in the forest in the community,” he said.
Over the last
19 years in operation, Nature Seekers has been conducting beach cleanup
projects which are in preparation for the turtle season. This project involves
the collection and removal of glass, plastic, metal and degradable materials
from the beach to facilitate turtles nesting successfully.
This year,
over 450 volunteers cleaned over 2.4 km of beach where they collected over 400
bags of plastic, bottles, Styrofoam and metal. Nature Seekers is an
organisation that allows the community members to decide what should happen
with the community resources with the technical advice from the Forestry
Division and other agencies. This level of community involvement encouraged
results in all of their projects, particularly in their turtle conservation
programme by elimination of the slaughtering of turtles from 30 percent to
zero.
“Our sea
turtle conservation programme is a project that has been going for the last 19
years. The education initiative is where people can come and take an
educational course and learn from the experiences of tagging and recording
turtles,” he said.
Sammy believes
it is important for the community to be involved because it is in the end a
community venture. “The organisation is run by members of the community and we
cannot make decisions without them. Although there are 52 persons in the
organisation the community consists of 1700 people who all participate in
developing the area,” he explained.
Their most
recent achievement was being recognised by CNN as their chairman Suzan
Lakhan-Baptiste was made a CNN Hero 2009.
“It is indeed
a great thing to be recognised for something like this and we are very excited
about it,” he said. Sammy, who considers his job at the organisation a lifelong
dream, believes that people should take a tour and experience turtle watching
for themselves.
“You cannot
have a turtle experience without having the full nature experience to go with
it and if persons do want to watch turtles they should go with a guide so that
they learn more about the animals,” he said.
“I would like to
say thank you to all those turtle watchers who came out this year. I would also
like to thank the Forestry Division because without them this community project
would not have been a reality, along with BP, BHP, Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle
Conservation Network (Widecast), Earthwatch Institute, Turtle Village Trust,
the Japanese Embassy and so many others,” he added.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,105246.html
NAPLES DAILY NEWS (Florida) 09 August 09 Nesting numbers continue to decline for
loggerhead sea turtle (Whitney Bryen)
Collier County: At 6:30 a.m., the sand on Vanderbilt Beach is
void of yesterday’s footprints and sand castles as the sun rises over downtown
Naples to the south.
Only the
tracks of an ATV run in a straight line down the beach as Markus Hennig, an
environmental specialist for Collier County Parks and Recreation, services the
60 sea turtle nests lining the coast of the beach.
Hennig patrols
a portion of the 23.7 miles of beach the Collier sea turtle protection program
oversees. He spends every morning during nesting season tracking the progress
of the nests looking for signs of tampering by humans and wildlife, ensuring
that the turtle hatchlings have the highest possible chance of survival.
But Hennig and
the sea turtle protection program may not be able to stop Collier County’s most
common sea turtle from being listed as an endangered species, and soon.
Loggerhead turtles are the only sea turtle native to the U.S. listed as
threatened on the endangered species list. All others are listed as endangered,
but nesting trends don’t look promising for loggerheads.
“They are in
the process of upgrading the loggerhead to endangered,” said Maura Kraus,
Collier County sea turtle protection program coordinator. “It hasn’t happened
yet, but it will.”
The past 10
years have seen a dramatic decline in turtle nests in Collier County, and with
no signs of recovery, the annual numbers will likely continue to drop,
according to employees of the turtle protection program.
In 1998, 1,098
sea turtle nests were reported in Collier County between May 1 and Oct. 31,
Florida’s sea turtle nesting season, according to reports from the sea turtle
protection program. The report shows 741 nests were reported in 2008, including
nests counted in the Ten Thousand Islands, which were not included in the 1998
records.
So far, the
2009 season is showing no improvement with 550 nests reported as of Aug. 3,
including 43 nests in the Ten Thousand Islands. And with August marking the
slowing of nesting season, officials said this year won’t bring the nesting
increase they were hoping for.
The loggerhead
is not the only sea turtle nesting on the shores of Southwest Florida this
year. A green turtle nest was found on Keewaydin Island and in the Ten Thousand
Islands, which Kraus said the area can expect to see again in 2011 since they
are consistent and will nest every other year.
Lee County
discovered a rare leatherback nest on Sanibel Island.
Kraus said
there is an increase in sightings of sea turtles on Florida’s coast with the
exception of the loggerhead’s. Species such as the green and leatherback
turtles are actually increasing over the past few years, but Loggerhead’s are
not following suit.
Back on
Vanderbilt Beach, Hennig reaches a site where hatchlings have recently emerged.
He removes the stakes and caution tape from the site preparing to excavate the
nest.
He digs his
hands into the sand and shovels it aside to find a pear-shaped hole 20 inches
deep containing 101 egg shells and five unhatched eggs.
For every
1,000 eggs only one turtle will make it to adulthood, Hennig said.
“With 60 nests
on the beach and about 100 eggs per nest I would expect to see about six
turtles make it to adulthood,” Hennig said. “And that’s including males so that
only leaves a couple of females to come back and reproduce.”
This low
survival rate is due to many factors including turtles being snagged by fishing
nets and traps, large numbers of underwater predators and disorientation by
land lights.
Collier County
has replaced lights along the coast to help reduce the emissions and
reflections in the sand.
Kraus said a
light on the pier has recently been removed and has already created new nesting
sites along the beach near the Naples Pier.
“We’ve never
had nests there before,” Kraus said. “This just proves the effect that the
lights have on nesting.”
Hennig said
the biggest problems he sees on Vanderbilt Beach are hungry raccoons and high
tides. Hennig said tides can be damaging to nests located too close to the
water. This year, Hennig saw 13 nests destroyed on June 24 because of a high
tide.
With so many
factors working against them the sea turtle protection program is working
harder than ever to protect sea turtle nests along the coast.
But laws can
only do so much, Kraus said, and the demise of the loggerhead population seems
inevitable.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/aug/09/nesting-numbers-continue-decline-loggerhead-sea-tu/
STAR BEACON (Ashtabula, Ohio) 09 August 09 Things
get hopping during Madison Old Fashioned Days (Debbie Palinsky)
Madison: Looking into a barrel of frogs made some kids
giggle and others shriek as they decided which frog they would chose to be the
hopeful winner of the frog jumping contest held Saturday morning during the
47th Annual Madison Old Fashioned Days event in Madison Village.
The very
popular contest has kids of all ages lined up to compete ñ all in hopes their
frog will jump the farthest. Each contestant was allowed three chances to make
the frog jump and the best jump out of three was counted.
Participants were
allowed to bring their own frog, but frogs of all sizes were provided for those
who needed one.
Old Fashioned
Days staff member, Mike Evangelista, said frogs are caught for the contest at
local ponds the night before, when they are less active.
“We have about
30 of them this year — small, medium and large,” he said. “The kids can pick
whatever frog they want to use for the contest.”
Evangelista
said the frogs are caught in the evening hours because they are not as active
and easier to catch.
“We tried catching
them during the daylight hours, but once they saw us coming they jumped back
into the water.”
Once the
contest is over, all frogs are returned safely to their original homes.
http://www.starbeacon.com/local/local_story_220214655.html
THE TIMES (London, UK) 09 August 09 Purr-fect
meal for a python (Richard Woods)
A cat called
Wilbur has discovered that it really is a jungle out there, even in the
suburbs. Wilbur, a four-year-old tabby, strayed into the next garden on the
outskirts of Bristol, only to encounter a 13ft Burmese python with a hungry
glint in its eye.
Yesterday
Wilbur’s owners, Martin and Helen Wadey, described what happened next. “We
heard the python’s strike from the terrified scream that came from Wilbur, and
the blood-chilling cries as he fought for his life,” said Martin Wadey. “Then
in less than a minute, all was silent.”
The Wadeys
rushed next door but their neighbour was out. It was days later, when the
python was scanned by the RSPCA, that Wilbur’s remains were identified by his
micro-chip inside the snake’s body.
The Wadeys are
now launching a “Justice for Wilbur” campaign. They say the unusual manner of
his death highlights an anomaly in British law: pythons are not covered by the
Dangerous Wild Animals Act.
The Wadeys
believe such snakes should be licensed and owners prosecuted if they leave them
to roam. Martin Wadey said: “Wilbur’s little life was brutally snuffed out. We
don’t want it to have been in vain.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6788800.ece
COURIER PRESS (Evansville, Indiana) 09
August 09 Once again, it's a froggy summer (Steve Ford)
It's a good
thing successful wildlife projects don't have to be by design.
Most of my
best work to benefit wildlife, especially around my own house, has sprung from
a posture of benign neglect.
I've allowed
blackberry thickets to rise from the middle of my side yard. Tree trimmings are
left in piles of "habitat." And this year I've allowed a future
generation of tree frogs to flourish.
Project Tree
Frogs happened because, as you know, it's been a particularly wet summer.
I had no plans
to harbor a burgeoning tree frog nursery a few weeks ago when I happened to
notice the little fellas with the suction cup feet were especially noisy — with
mating calls — for a week.
Throw in a
steady diet of soaking rain, a couple of persistent mud puddles in my
weed-choked gravel turnaround and, presto, I had two pools of tadpoles.
While I
suspect most people would have missed them because they started quite small (I
first thought they were mosquito larvae and about to die), I looked closer
because I've been down this road before.
But I couldn't
remember the details on our other tree frog project so I called my daughter,
Lacey, and her 24-year-old memory.
"Do you
remember the year we had all the tree frogs, Lacey?" I asked her.
"Of
course," she said.
"Where
did they all come from?" I continued.
"That was
the year you left that inflatable plastic boat we used to fill up like a pool
next to the house," she said. "It filled up with rainwater, you
forgot about it and a few weeks later we had tadpoles and then you had to let
them grow because I love frogs."
The frogs
would attach themselves to the stonework, windows, doors, the grill and
anything else in the yard. One stayed in the house for a while; they're very
little trouble and they do eat bugs.
Now it looks
like we're in for another batch, although they're still several weeks away.
This time has been a little more work, though. The puddles in the driveway have
begun to dry up and I've kept them going for a few days with the garden hose.
There also is predation.
The first
critter I saw get after them was a small Eastern box turtle. He would chase
them around with his head under water and stayed in there so long he started
getting green moss on his shell.
I took him out
Wednesday, but he was back in there the next day and then I saw him again
Friday, Only this time he wasn't moving. Apparently, imitating a snapping
turtle wasn't a healthy lifestyle for a land dweller.
Friday
presented a more serious predation threat when I noticed raccoon tracks in the
mud. I'd have to move the future frogs. Enter Project Tadpole Transplant 2009.
Because I no
longer have an inflatable boat or a plastic pool, I went with a large plastic
work cart that is water tight and portable. That should confuse the raccoons
and allow me to move the cart up near the front window when the tadpoles start
to complete their metamorphosis into frogs.
So you can
call me the Frog Whisperer.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/aug/09/once-again-its-a-froggy-summer/
TIMES-LEADER (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) 09
August 09 Misconceptions loom with snapping turtles (Tom Venesky)
Rice
TWP.: Although the snapping turtle that
Rick Koval and I caught wasn’t an enormous monster, it was a sign of things to
come.
The small
snapper had a head and feet that seemed far too large for its shell, indicating
that with time the turtle could top 20 pounds or more.
With an
appearance that looks as if it never evolved from prehistoric times, the
snapping turtle is the subject of misconceptions and misplaced fear.
One
misconception is a snapping turtle in a pond will wipe out the fish population.
Sure a snapper does eat fish, but it’s part of the food chain and it’s appetite
alone won’t result in the disappearance of every fish in the water.
“Every pond
that has large bass has snapping turtles,” said Koval, a naturalist with the
North Branch Land Trust. “They co-exist. Besides, many fish are too fleet for
the snapping turtle to catch.”
That’s why the
large, slow-moving turtles are opportunistic feeders. They’ll eat everything
from frogs to ducks and won’t hesitate to make a meal out of something dead.
“They’re great
scavengers, kind of like the buzzards of the water,” Koval said. “They actually
can help a pond by consuming a fish that has died.”
The cause of
much of the fear that surrounds snapping turtles centers around its jaws and
the belief that it can snap a finger off with ease.
Sure, the head
and jaws on a snapping turtle are large and powerful, and yes they can injure.
But a snapping turtle, like a snake, really doesn’t attack anyone who dares
enter its watery realm. They won’t come after a person, but if threatened, a
snapping turtle won’t hesitate to protect itself with some nasty hissing and a
bite if necessary.
“When provoked
they’ll react,” Koval said. “They need to be respected and if you see one,
watch it from a distance.”
The main
reason for a snapper’s powerful jaws is to grab and tear prey or carrion.
No matter the
size, all snapping turtles have an extremely rugged appearance. The carapace is
thick with raised, dinosaur-like keels, the tail has a row of horn-like
projections and the thick head and legs give the snapper a muscular appearance.
“They’re built
for battle,” Koval said.
http://www.timesleader.com/sports/Misconceptions_loom_with_snapping_turtles_08-09-2009.html
NEWS-PRESS (Fort Myers, Florida) 09 August
09 Pythons
are everywhere in the Everglades; few will be caught (Byron Stout)
Jeff Fobb slid
one of his most recent Burmese python captures out of a pillowcase in his
backyard.
Without so
much as a hiss, the year-old, 7-foot, 10-pound snake ducked its head into the
mown wireweed of the lawn and integrated itself into its new environment.
Scarcely a leaf moved as the exquisitely camouflaged reptile dissolved into
mere 4-inch foliage.
"Stand
back 10 feet," Fobb instructed, "and you cannot see that snake.
Finding one out in the Everglades is almost impossible."
Catching
140,000 - the high end of the Everglades National Park Service population
guesstimate of the invasive exotic snakes - is a ludicrous proposition,
according to python expert Tom Crutchfield, one of the reptile breeders who say
they're caught up in a media storm of politics and pork that has nothing to do
with reality.
The June death
of a Sumter County toddler in the coils of the family's pet albino Burmese
python was the catalyst for a flurry of news conferences that have brought
national and international attention to the South Florida wilderness. Politicians,
from Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to U.S. Senator Bill Nelson and Secretary of
the Interior Ken Salazar, have since trumpeted python warnings.
Recent
anti-python measures include:
A bill
introduced by U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, that would counter "a
major public safety threat" by banning the sale of even small python
species. State officials announced this week they are even considering an
outright ban on Burmese pythons.
Permits
hastily issued last month on the governor's orders by the state Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission, authorizing seven herpetologists, including
Fobb, to catch and kill pythons on state lands surrounding the Everglades. No
other permits will be issued under that emergency program.
"There's
4,000 square miles of Everglades wilderness area. If you think you're going to
make a dent on a python population in an area that big, it's folly," said
Crutchfield, who has hunted pythons throughout Southeast Asia.
The problem is
a well-documented explosion of pythons in and around Everglades National Park.
The odd, presumably escaped, pet python turned up in single-digit numbers from
1979 to 2001. The count started jumping in 2002, and the all-time total more
than doubled from 2006 to 2007, when discovery of the first python nest
verified a breeding population. More than 1,000 now have been removed,
according to the park service.
Crutchfield
believes it is fantasy at this point to think pythons can be controlled in
southern Florida. He is convinced a breeding-size population was released
simultaneously from breeding facilities, zoos and private collections in the
Homestead area by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. He cites as evidence DNA studies
that show the Everglades snakes are all related.
Part of the
python population explosion is attributed to people who found the idea of a
large pet snake amusing. Burmese pythons have become so common, babies of 18 to
22 inches sell for as little as $20 at reptile fairs.
But Burmese
pythons grow to an average of 7 feet within a year. Tom Cowlishaw, a licensed
and bonded exhibitor with a 20-foot python named Muffy on display at Lake
Trafford in Immokalee, said with generous feeding he once grew a female - the
larger of the sexes, for reasons of egg-bearing capacity - to 13 feet in one
year.
Pythons that
large have a fearsome bite and bone-crushing strength - traits wildlife
managers fear have inspired the release of many pets into Florida's
python-pleasing subtropical environment.
The Humane
Society of the United States reports 12 human deaths, including five children,
that have involved pet pythons in the United States since 1980. But attacks on
humans by wild Burmese pythons are almost unheard of, even in their native
Southeast Asia.
The real fear
is pythons - top-level predators that grow to more than 20 feet - will disrupt
the ecology of southern Florida, and even the southern United States.
Nick Wiley,
assistant executive director of Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission who will take the helm in December, has no delusions about eliminating
pythons in the Everglades. But that's where he'd like to see them confined.
"Containment
probably is a good word," Wiley said of the state strategy for pythons in
the thousands of square miles of public lands it manages from coast to coast in
southern Florida. "The first step is to draw the line where we try to
maintain no further expansion."
Crutchfield
doesn't deny pythons could have a serious impact in southern Florida, and said
he's noticed a paucity of small mammals in the Homestead area. Large pythons in
Everglades National Park have been found with remains of prey as scrappy as
bobcats, and as powerful as deer with antlers.
But
Crutchfield notes many species of owls, hawks and wading birds, other snakes
and mammalian predators including raccoons and otters all likely prey on young
pythons. And large alligators could kill any size python.
"It
remains to be seen whether they'll be a threat to the environment," he
said. "When they get large, a big python will eat maybe six or seven times
a year. They might not eat enough to be a threat."
On the hunt
Dealing with
thousands of non-native pythons is daunting.
On the
governor's orders, seven herpetologists were given state python-hunting permits
in mid-July. They are charged with gathering data on snakes north of Everglades
National Park, to begin the first faint etchings of a line of containment
across southern Florida.
After three
weeks, their official score was six pythons found and killed. More than 100,000
to go.
The snake
hunters bear their own expenses, but can sell the snakes if desired. All
American Gator Products in Hallandale has offered up to $60 for large pythons.
Fobb, a
firefighter in Miami-Dade County, removes about 50 pythons per year for
property owners as part of his job. He is one of the seven herpetologists
issued permits to remove the snakes from otherwise protected state lands.
Pythons found on private lands are unprotected and can be disposed of at will.
On the night
of July 28, The News-Press joined Fobb and his nephew, Central Florida
University student Doug Rogers, on a hunt for pythons in the Southern Glades
Wildlife and Environmental Area, just outside Everglades National Park near
Homestead.
As the sun set
and mosquitoes rose over the 30,000-acre marsh criss-crossed by deep canals,
Fobb set out on a hike of seven miles. His strategy was to find pythons basking
on asphalt roadways - measured at 87 degrees on Fobb's laser thermometer - that
were abandoned along with a solid-fuel rocket facility built safely out in the
remote southern swamp as a function of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
It was not a
lucky night. Negligible air movement and clouds that sometimes shaded the
moonlight were propitious. Pythons don't like wind, and they need no light to
find and strike prey with their sensitive smell and heat-detection organs.
But Fobb noted
no one knows all the factors that compel the snakes to move around at times,
and hole up at others. He's in the process of correlating such data.
Headlamps
revealed a handful of large American toads and a couple of chuck-will's-widows
that lit on the roads to catch unidentified insects. Pig frogs that sounded as
big as Buicks croaked off in the marsh, but nary a peek at a python was had.
Fobb's
previous trek in the Southern Glades had resulted in three python catches -
apparent newborns, all found within 100 feet of one another. Another larger
snake escaped into a thicket of poisonwood - a local tree with the wallop of
poison ivy - where hunters couldn't follow.
Fobb scoured
the same areas for siblings or a big mama on the hunt, to no avail. He gave up
around midnight, but on the next night a 6-footer was captured in the same
area.
"It's all
a matter of chance," Fobb observed. "The more you hunt, the more
pythons you'll find. But it's like finding a needle in a haystack."
http://www.news-press.com/article/20090809/GREEN/908090371/1007/NEWS0105
BILD (Hamburg, Germany) 09 August 09 Python
verschlingt Katze
Eine
Python-Schlange hat in England eine Katze aus Nachbars Garten verschlungen. Das
Reptil habe die vier Jahre alte Katze namens Wilbur "erdrückt, erstickt
und als ganzes verschluckt", berichteten die Katzenbesitzer Martin und
Helen Wadey aus der westenglischen Stadt Bristol.
"Wir
wissen nicht, ob Wilbur über die Schlange gestolpert ist und es ein zufälliger
Tod war, oder ob die Schlange ihn aktiv gejagt hat", erklärten die
Katzenbesitzer. Die Tierschutzorganisation RSPCA hat den Python inzwischen
untersucht und bestätigte: Wilburs Reste waren in der Riesenschlange - identifiziert
durch den Microchip des Katers im Schlangenkörper. Der Schlangen-Halter bekam
eine Verwarnung. Die Wadeys kämpfen nun darum, dass Python-Besitzer eine
Erlaubnis dafür haben müssen.
http://nachrichten.t-online.de/c/19/63/97/66/19639766.html