'Python Huntress' takes on invasive snakes in the Everglades
OCHOPEE, Florida, June 10 (Reuters) - Amy Siewe was a successful real estate agent -- but her life changed after she captured her first python in Florida's Everglades.
"I just had this fascination with snakes. So when I learned that there was a python problem here in Florida ... I went on a hunt, I caught a nine-foot (2.75-meter) python, and that was it. I was hooked!" she said.
Within two months she had sold her business in Indiana and moved to Florida to become a python hunter.
Now, with more than 600 dead pythons under her belt, she is known as the "Python Huntress" -- one of a handful of women amongst hundreds of men hunting the invasive Burmese python in Florida's Everglades wetland ecosystem.
"This python is about 10 feet (3 meters) long," she says as she wrestles a snake she has just captured in the tall grass in the middle of the night. "It's probably about three years old, and to date it's eaten about 200 of our native animals, including mammals and birds."
Burmese pythons have been spreading through the Everglades National Park since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 destroyed a breeding facility for the pet trade, freeing some 900 snakes.
Originally native to Southeast Asia, the python can grow up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) long and has a voracious appetite, consuming the local wildlife, including mammals, birds and even alligators.
The Everglades is a unique subtropical ecosystem, with the largest continuous mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. It is home to a vast array of unique species, including the endangered Florida panther, the American alligator and the American crocodile.
But it provides no natural predators to the Burmese python, allowing the population of the invasive species to balloon. Scientists have noted dramatic declines in raccoons, opossums, bobcats, and rabbits in the region.
"There's an estimated 500,000 pythons out there," Siewe said.
The pythons, which are hunted by night, cannot legally be transported alive, so they are killed on site after being captured and measured.
Once home, Siewe skins the dead snakes, and then has the skins professionally tanned into leather to be made into purses, wallets, watch bands and other goods.
It takes an average of 12 hours to catch one.
"So it's not that effective, right," she admits. "We're always going to have pythons in Florida. What we're trying to do is figure out how to decrease their numbers. Hunting right now is the most effective tool that we have."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Traveller left shocked after flight attendant demands plane passenger gets rid of popular item
A plane passenger left social media users shocked after revealing they were instructed by a flight attendant to 'spit out' a popular product used by a growing number of adults. In a post uploaded to the popular Reddit community, r/Delta, the passenger detailed their exchange on a Delta flight, adding that he complied 'right away' in getting rid of the item. The US-based flyer, who goes by u/Aquahammer, said that the item in question was a tobacco-free nicotine pouch. Marketed as a smoke-free alternative to traditional products, nicotine pouches are designed to be placed between the gum and lip, where nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream. Brands such as ZYN, VELO, Nordic Spirit and Rogue have gained popularity in recent years, with roughly 1.1 per cent of British adults currently using nicotine pouches, while 6 per cent have tried them, according to Action on Smoking and Health. In the Reddit post, the passenger shared: 'Got told to spit my Zyn out on a flight, I really didn't know that was a thing? Delta flight, first class (not that that matters).' The person added: 'They brought a cup out and asked me to spit my zyn out. They said it was because it was a tobacco product. I didn't put up a fight and complied right away. Was just wondering if this was an FAA thing I didn't know about?' The post has since amassed over 80 comments as fellow Redditors shared their thoughts about using nicotine pouches during flights. One person wrote: 'Delta policy bans "smokeless tobacco" products. Zyn is of course not a smokeless tobacco product (no tobacco), but I wouldn't want to get pedantic with a flight attendant. So just be more sneaky about it next time.' However, another challenged: 'It's rather confusing. What constitutes a "smokeless product"? Are they implying smokeless tobacco products? Zyn, for instance, is not a tobacco product at all - its nicotine is synthetically derived. 'I also wonder why nicotine pouches are not allowed on flights. I understand chewing tobacco since you need to dispose of it in an unhygienic way. But nicotine pouches are unobtrusive, no less hygienic than gum, don't produce vapors or other noticeable smells...' A third contributor hit back: 'Tobacco or not, does it cause you to spit into a bottle or cup that could spill or be left stuffed in the seat pocket that someone else has to clean up? Then I'd say it doesn't matter what you call it.' One person warned the passenger: 'It's allowed but be discreet, I see many people using them on flights myself included and as long as you're not doing it right in front of an FA you're fine. However, one plane passenger shared: 'I had a FA confirm that Zyns are not allowed which is crazy. I was in Delta one and she told me they aren't allowed but she doesn't care. I think she just wanted me to hide it from the other FAs. I don't get it though.' A United Airlines flyer added: 'I was on a United flight a few days ago and the shopping/menu magazine in the seatback actually had a Zyn add in it. It said something like "Flight ready".' It comes after another plane passenger reignited an etiquette debate about wearing shoes and socks on flights in 2024. Sharing their thoughts on a post to Reddit, the user - who posted under MilitaryBaker - sparked a fierce debate over the matter. Posting to the Unpopular Opinion subreddit, the disgruntled flyer wrote: 'You should not be allowed to take off your shoes or socks on a plane.' 'Planes are already one of the most horribly smelling places you can be,' the user wrote. They went on to acknowledge that although it is more 'comfortable,' some people's feet are 'literally intolerable.'
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Was Red Bull's awful weekend a glimpse into future without Max Verstappen?
Act now to keep your subscription We've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
England wildlife regulator chair ‘enthusiastic' about Lynx rewilding
The head of the government's wildlife regulator has said he remains 'enthusiastic' about reintroducing lynx to Britain and would be 'absolutely delighted' if it could be achieved during his two-year term. But Tony Juniper, the chair of Natural England, added that debates over the animal's release were 'still quite polarised' and required 'more engagement' to understand how communities would be affected. The Lynx UK Trust has submitted a draft application for a trial return of lynx to England's largest forest, Kielder, in Northumberland, using wild animals rescued from culls in Sweden. The charismatic but elusive labrador-sized cat lives in forests and preys mainly on deer or rabbits, posing no threat to humans. It was hunted to extinction in Britain, finally disappearing from Scotland in the middle ages. By the 1950s, there were barely 700 Eurasian lynx left in Europe, but in recent decades the population has bounced back to 18,000, boosted by a reduction in persecution and successful reintroductions to areas of Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and other countries. The Lynx UK Trust has been told by Natural England officials that a trial reintroduction cannot proceed because the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) rules it illegal under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act. According to the Lynx UK Trust, this could be solved with a simple statutory instrument – a legal tweak – but the charity's chief executive, Paul O'Donoghue, said that Steve Reed, the environment secretary, had not responded to attempts to arrange a meeting despite giving an initial warm response. O'Donoghue said that if the government would not review the trust's application for a licence for a trial release, it would launch a court challenge. Asked if he believed lynx could be reintroduced, Juniper said: 'It should be looked at and I know people are looking at it.' He said he hoped that 'a cross-border conversation with colleagues in Scotland' could boost prospects for the return of the species. 'Lynx do need big areas of habitat and there could be some opportunities to combine nature recovery over parts of northern England with what's going on in southern Scotland,' he said. 'It is still quite polarised and some of these things will remain divided no matter how much effort you put in, but we need more engagement to understand how communities that would be living with these animals would be able to continue with what they do. There are in some places still serious doubts about that.' But O'Donoghue said calls for 'more engagement' were a waste of time and money. 'Unless he has been living under a rock for the past 30 years, Tony Juniper must know that sheep farmers will never change their position on lynx reintroduction, making more calls for more engagement utterly futile,' he said. 'The sad and stark truth is that currently the government are actively blocking any legal attempt at lynx reintroduction.' As well as the draft application from the Lynx UK Trust, two other charitable collaborations are conducting consultations over lynx reintroduction. The Missing Lynx Project is exploring the feasibility of reintroducing the carnivore to Kielder, while the Lynx to Scotland partnership last month produced a 100-page report after consulting 53 stakeholders including farmer interests about a potential return to the Cairngorms. The report identified potential conflict between lynx and sheep farmers and recommended payments for losses and coexistence, as well as a funded rapid-response system for farmers experiencing sheep predation. Any reintroduction in Scotland requires approval from the Scottish government after another public consultation and ecological assessments. Four lynx were illegally released in the Cairngorms in January, with one dying and three females recaptured and rehomed at the Highland Wildlife Park. Rogue rewilders were blamed, but the animals were tame and many believe they were simply released from a private collection. O'Donoghue said the Kielder reintroduction area in England – where Lynx UK Trust had an application declined in 2018 – would be ideal, offering the spacious landscape that most benefits lynx in a forest environment with relatively few sheep-farming interests. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'I have no idea why the government are so scared of lynx. Lynx have naturally recolonised countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands with great celebration and no issues,' he said. 'Lynx are proven drivers of both economic and ecological restoration. They would generate millions of pounds every year to the local economy in Kielder, providing both green, sustainable jobs and improving the health and resilience of forest ecosystems. In Germany, a reintroduction in the Harz mountains has been so successful that a second reintroduction is now planned in Bavaria.' Juniper agreed that lynx reintroductions such as that in Harz had boosted regional economies with lynx-related tourism. Juniper also sits on the board of the Fauna & Flora charity which has projects helping Romanian farmers coexist with the wolf and bear. Juniper added: 'It's not so much about the ecology of whether these animals would have enough to eat or whether they'd have a big enough home range, it's much more about the social conditions that they arrive in and the attitudes of the communities that would live with them. And so we probably do need to do some more work there to be able to get to that point. But that's work in progress and people are working on that and Natural England is talking to those folks who are doing some of that work.' Asked about a potential legal challenge over the latest lynx reintroduction application, a Defra spokesperson said: 'This government is absolutely committed to restoring and protecting nature and we support species. We will continue to work with Natural England on species reintroductions in England.' It is understood that the government wants more evidence of the effects of the management of large predators before any reintroduction is considered. O'Donoghue added: 'The fact that the UK is one of the only countries in the world without an apex predator should be a source of huge shame for the government. We are in a biodiversity crisis. It is time for the greenwashing and needless conversations to stop and for real actions to occur. 'It really is a no-brainer. Lynx are the perfect predator to reintroduce as they pose zero threat to humans yet provide so many societal benefits.'
