The Things We Come Across
Unwelcome Guest in the Bathroom: The Tale of a Ball Python in a Hotel Toilet As a nuisance wildlife removal specialist, I’ve encountered my fair share of unusual situations. From…
Unwelcome Guest in the Bathroom: The Tale of a Ball Python in a Hotel Toilet As a nuisance wildlife removal specialist, I’ve encountered my fair share of unusual situations. From…
Coyotes and raccoons appearing to have no fear of humans or large animals are growing in numbers across the Chicago area in recent months, prompting warnings from police and wildlife officials.
The latest warning comes from Hammond, Indiana, where police say a resident shared photos of a coyote they say could have a viral disease known as distemper.
“Coyote walked right up to me and my 60lb lab mix with no fear on the trail south of Cabelas,” police said the caption for the photos read. “Those with small dogs should take caution while walking in the area.”
The police department also warned dog owners to “use discretion if walking in this area, especially with small dogs.”
West Nile virus was first identified in 1937 in Uganda in eastern Africa. It was first discovered in the United States in the summer of 1999 in New York. Since then, the virus has spread throughout the US. Researchers believe West Nile virus is spread when a mosquito bites an infected bird and then bites a person.
If you have West Nile virus, you will typically show the first virus symptoms within 3-14 days of being bitten.
Symptoms and signs of West Nile virus include fever, headache, body aches, skin rash, and swollen lymph nodes. Severe symptoms and signs may include stiff neck, sleepiness, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, and paralysis. Most cases ofWest Nile virus infection are mild and go unreported
By TyLisa C. Johnson, Times Staff Writer Published: February 20, 2018 HOLIDAY — At 6:30 a.m. on a day last November, Wanda Dean woke up to her hysterical and tearful 89-year-old…
NAPLES, Fla. — Patrick Riley, Naples, FL Daily
For Burmese pythons — one of South Florida’s most notorious invasive species — few meals are too big. But new research by scientists suggests the snake might be snacking above its weight class.
While tracking pythons in Collier Seminole State Park in Collier County, a group of wildlife biologists from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and land managers from the state park stumbled upon an unsettling discovery: An 11-foot Burmese python that had devoured a white-tailed deer fawn weighing more than the snake.
The 2015 finding, which has since been peer-reviewed and is set to be published in the Herpetological Review this month, is believed to be the largest python-to-prey ratio documented to date, with the snake weighing 31.5 pounds and the deer 35 pounds, said Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and science coordinator for the Conservancy.
“It almost did not compute,” he said during an announcement of the findings in the Conservancy’s snake laboratory Thursday.
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“We were sitting there just trying to process that an animal this size could get its head around what turned out to be a deer. It’s surreal to see that in the field.”
When the researchers moved the snake out of the wild into an open area that day, the stressed python began to regurgitate the deer, Bartoszek said.
But had the snake’s meal been uninterrupted, the python would have eventually fully digested the fawn, which was less than 6 months old, he said. The python was later humanely euthanized.
Burmese pythons, which came to South Florida via the pet trade beginning in the late 1970s and were eventually accidentally or intentionally released into the wild, have had the delicate local ecosystem in a chokehold for years.
But the Conservancy’s recent discovery could spell more bad news for Florida’s already endangered panther population, Bartoszek said.
“White-tailed deer are the primary prey for our state and federally protected Florida panther,” he said. “That’s panther food.”
TO READ OUR POST ON THE 4 NON – NATIVE VENOMOUS SNAKES THAT LIVE IN FLORIDA CLICK HERE
With Burmese pythons capable of reaching near 20 feet in length, finding a relatively small specimen successfully devouring a fawn heavier than the snake was “jaw-dropping,” Bartoszek said.
“It showed my team and myself what we were actually dealing with out there, what this python is capable of,” he said.
To be sure, Bartoszek said, the pythons, which are apex predators, have been known to swallow large animals, including alligators. What stunned the scientists was the predator-to-prey ratio, he said.
“We know that they’ll take adult deer now and then,” Bartoszek said. “If they’re tapping into young deer, then that just makes me a little bit worried that there will be additional impacts that we haven’t even considered yet.”
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials don’t keep records of python predator-to-prey ratios, said Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the agency’s division of habitat and species conservation.
“Pythons pose a concern for all native wildlife in Florida,” she wrote in an email. “Although infrequent, pythons are known to occasionally take a fawn or small deer, and this has been well documented previously. However, pythons are not believed to be a significant predator of deer.”
The Conservancy’s python program, which launched about five years ago and is funded by private donors and the Naples Zoo, has researchers radio-tag pythons and then follow them to other snakes during breeding season to remove them from the wild.
As of last month, the Conservancy’s team has removed hundreds of adult Burmese pythons with a combined weight of more than 10,000 pounds in Southwest Florida.
Parallel to the Conservancy’s efforts, the South Florida Water Management District launched a python elimination program last year, sending python hunters into district-owned lands in Miami-Dade, Broward and Collier counties to track down the snakes and remove them.
Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/opinion/ci_31652011/snakes-plane-emotional-support#ixzz56YvYuSUv
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Nuisance Wildlife Removal, Inc. is very well known in the community as the GO-TO expert with the highest experience level in solving difficult insect and pest infestations efficiently and easily. We employ advanced technology such as thermographic cameras and Go-pro technology. This reduces the amount of damage to your structure and this will reduce the overall cost of your project.
How to Keep your Pets Safe From Coyotes • Never feed coyotes. It is illegal and can cause them to associate people with food and lose their fear of humans.…
Coyotes were considered a western species in the US, but expanded their range to north Florida in the 60's and 70's according to the wildlife commission. The wildlife commission states…