Editor's note: This post is part of the Overheard on CNN.com series, a regular feature that examines interesting comments and thought-provoking conversations posted by the community.
"They need to import the Honey Badger. That'll fix the problem."
– Banned in 49 States
Florida has a GOP primary, but it's also got pythons. The slithering creatures have inspired many memorable comments on CNN.com on Tuesday.
Pythons wiping out mammals in Everglades, researchers say
Commenters offered ideas to get rid of the creatures, suggesting they be hunted.
Michael Vick: "The solution to the problem is already presented in the article. If Burmese pythons are threatened in their native range because humans hunt them for meat and skins, you just have to do the same to get rid of them (in the Everglades). You're forgetting python skins make great handbags, purses and shoes. This may help Florida's manufacturing industry as they have an unlimited supply of python skin. Python meat is lean and quite tasty. They taste better than rattlesnake meat and are much healthier for you than red and white meat. Florida needs to do this soon or else there won't be anything left but pythons."
Maybe a net is in order, one reader said.
Debra: "This situation has been known about for a very long time, and nothing much has been done about it. Can't a large net be placed into the water or where they live, scooped up and then killed? The only time they will get serious about this situation is when a human, like a child, is taken by one of them!"
Some suggested new rules for wildlife:
JaneDoe: "First, we need to end importation of any wildlife from any country into the U.S. Second, the government needs to pay hunters to kill these creatures. ... It is cheaper to do that now than to allow these creatures to come into neighborhoods and hide in yards. Eventually, they will hunt other food sources like pets and children."
The bounty-hunting concept came up a few times.
charles: "Why don't they put a bounty on the pythons. ... (P)eople could get X amount of dollars for each python they bring in to the DNR. They did things like this back in the day on wolves and such and practically wiped them out (I don't agree with what they did to wolves; they are a native species), but pythons are not native and are killing the native species off so I don't see a problem with a bounty on them.
But should people just leave the situation alone?
Adam: "Why is it that we think we need to get involved? Let Darwinism do its thing. Eventually, the pythons will overpopulate and run out of a food supply. They'll begin to die off one after another until their population is put into a healthy number, and the mammals will start to make a comeback. Are we really ignorant enough to believe that we can keep everything in this world exactly the same as we remember it for all of time? Give me a break."
A few readers debated regulating pythons.
Amanda: "There is an easy fix to the releasing-them-into-the-wild problem. Make all snake owners register and have check-ins. Sorry, but if you own a deadly animal, you should have to be regulated and there should be programs in place to see that you are caring for them properly and that when they expire, that the corpse is inspected. Not only will this put a stop to releasing them entirely, but it will hold accountable these owners from abusing these animals."
Some more ideas include:
Mike: "Use rabbits. Mount GPS tracking devices on them with an alarm that sends a signal when they are swallowed or die. Then follow the GPS coordinates right to the snakes and destroy them (if eaten by gators or other predators you can just let 'em poop it out). Selectively breed small, slow-moving rabbits, then attach the device and let them go all over Florida. The devices should be reusable. Put a bounty on them as well."
Bookenz: "With laser beams in their eyes."
Michael Vick: "Why mount rabbits with expensive GPS when you can arm it with cheap bomb? If a python eats it, that will be its last meal."
Got any thoughts on Florida's python issue? Sound off on video via CNN iReport, and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments area below.
Compiled by the CNN.com moderation staff. Some comments edited for length or clarity.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Expand welfare programs to include the python.
you guys are cracking me up today!!!
Python's have as much right to be here as American Diamondback Rattlesnakes do. Did not our own ancestors come from far away. Embrace the python and naturalize them today!
No.
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! … Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
ah, the killer joke.. germans shouldn't read that..
have you ever been to the everglades? i've driven through. alligator alley they call it..
there was a chain link fence along it, and a couple of 'rest areas' where you could stretch your legs and look out across the swamp..
there's no mountains, trees, nothing off in the distance.. nothing but swamp. beautiful birds..
there were 'creeks' between patches of 'marsh', and in these 'creeks' were, quite literally, hundreds of little black spots in pairs.. gators' eyes..
hunting the glades is a dangerous prospect.. and you'd have to protect the other stuff from criminals, too..
@dazzle, you dont know the whole story,If you got something to say talk,if you want the truth.
Well why don't you just post what you have to say? I have read thru every one of Tori's blogs and there is absolutely nothing in there against you.Just post away so her father can also see why Tori was called that awful word.
Why waste time talking to an ass? Just ignore them.
speak for yourself.. i have ancestors from right here.. and, frankly, whites are a destructive influence..
i guess you think southern florida doesn't deserve rabbits and foxes? that's two.. pythons are one.. and they are about to make it 4..
that was @grant.. sorry
hahahahahahahahaha.
Embrace the python. Welcome them into your culture. Give them free medical care and food stamps. You are a generous and kind people.
Pythons have been fed HIV laced aspirin and are a danger to young people. They are being protected by the CIA and openly gay priests. Waterboard the python so he will tell what he knows.
Adopt the culture of the python and make it part of your own. Perhaps require Park Service employees to learn the pythonish language.
Hey General! Check this out. These indians have been warring on each other and enslaving each other for years. What say we give them some of their own medicine. (this is @leeintulsa, sorry)
During WW2, the nazis trained pythons to do their bidding. It was Werner von Braun who designed the python missile, which would have been able to deliver HIV laced pythons across the Atlantic beyond the speed limit. These pythons were to wreck havoc on the US east coast. But the war ended, and the CIA and Bayer pharmaceutical stole the technology which is now in open use by the OWS movement.
@ dazzle, we all get our names hijacked in here by some very shady people. It has happened to tori also, but most of us regulars know her style so we know when its not her. But it happens to all of us gung hoe included.
Thank you Chrissy. Tori's father and I eagerly await Gung Hoe's response.
The Federal Government and the State of Florida should hire a large number of people from all over the country to go to Florida and be trained and equipped to go into the everglades and find and kill pythons until their numbers are drastically reduced. This could enable the native Florida species to make a comeback and put a lot of Americans to work.
Take all these republcan candidates and move them into the everglades. They'll feel right at home with the rest of the snakes, and they can just feed off of one another. That way, maybe they'll leave us bobcats and other mammals alone.