Foreign invasionBomb-sniffing dogs used in Everglades python invasion
Burmese pythons have invaded the Florida Everglades, adapting well to the Everglades environment; they have also been wreaking havoc with the delicate ecosystem of the area; now, there is a new weapon in the fight against the Burmese python: dogs, trained to sniff out explosives, are being re-trained to locate the Burmese python
Burmese python typical of those found in the Everglades // Source: nps.gov
For several years, environmental authorities have been fighting an invasion of the Florida Everglades by Burmese pythons. The pythons have adapted very well to the Everglades environment, and have been wreaking havoc with the delicate ecosystem of the area.
Officials believe that the snakes were introduced into the Everglades either deliberately, when former owners no longer wanted or able to care for the snakes, or were escapees from the owners. Also at fault is Hurricane Andrew, which struck the region in 1992. and destroyed a nearby exotic snake warehouse.
Burmese Pythons are dark-colored snakes with many brown blotches bordered in black down the back. The perceived attractiveness of their skin pattern contributes to their popularity with both reptile keepers and the leather industry.
In the wild, the Burmese python, native to southern and southeast Asia, averages twelve to thirteen feet in length. They are excellent swimmers, needing a permanent source of water, and are frequent tree-climbers as well.
They have thrived in the Everglades, and as a result, have been reproducing prodigiously. In the areas where they are well-established, they are having a devastating effect on the ecological systems. Foxes and rabbits have disappeared, along with greatly diminished sightings of raccoons, opossums, and white-tailed deer. Bird and coyote populations are in danger, along with such already-rare species as the Florida panther.
Now, there is a new weapon in the fight against the Burmese python.
The Huffington Post reports that some dogs, trained to sniff out explosives, are being re-trained to locate the Burmese python. The dogs are referred to as EcoDogs, and are the result of a 3-year collaboration at AuburnUniversity between the science department and the university’s Canine Detection Research Institute.
Todd Steury, one of the project’s co-founders, discovered that many of the EcoDogs were not temperamentally suited to indoor explosives detection, but thrived outdoors with ecological targets. In controlled testing, the dogs achieved a success rate range of 75 percent to 92 percent. The dogs helped researchers capture nineteen pythons, including a pregnant female with nineteen eggs.
A spokeswoman for the Everglades National Park, Linda Friar, said that the snakes are so well adapted, and the park is so wild and inaccessible, that there is no expectation that the pythons can be eradicated. The best hope is to prevent the python population from spreading, and to be prepared for possible future invasions of exotics.
The EcoDogs have proven to be adaptable as well. They are easily retrained to seek out other ecological targets and are presently involved in such projects as assessing deer populations by searching out fawns and antlers, determining populations of bears, skunks, and other animals based on their scat, or droppings, and rooting out a tree fungus that is damaging forests.
