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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@dazzle I have had disgreements with chrissie and banasy and you can ask them I dont call people names,its not my style.I feel who has to resort to that just shows how stupid they are.
We better get rid of the snakes in Washington DC first.
Cuz the middle class is disappearing faster then the Florida opossum is.
I don't remember anything bad that may have been said about TORI, except that some obvious troll was saying that she had a low GPA when most on the board would have remembered her GPA as 4.0.
People call me names here all the time.
@ bobby YOU know what I trulley feeL sorry for you.You must lead a pretty pathetic life,to be filled with the hatred that you show on the boards.
There are a lotta snakes on this board!! For the pythons just put a bounty on them except Newt Gingrich's wife!
Dazzle:
I have been called everyname in the book, such as what the classy bobby above has just posted.
Every regular has had their name hijacked, and has had the most vile things posted under our names.
It was not gung hoe; that is not his MO.
I didn't see the post,or I would have jumped in then.
It is, however, bobby's style; he goes by many names; he is Legion.
Please give Tori a hug for me,and tell her I'm sorry.
We have all seen what a good father TORI© has.
That's one reason that she has a wonderful life ahead of her.
Hello Joey, Banasy, Chrissy, and Gung Hoe, just perusing thru this I can see the hatred and the love. It is obvious that people steal other names and show up under another name. When Tori has the ability to not care what other people think of her,she'll be back. She is worried what Mom has posted. CNN has pulled the rant from last night which was disgusting. I told her that many of you are parents and would fight like hell for their kids when they are in the right. TY again.
Hi Joey, her father and I have worked very hard to be good parents and role models.
Dazzle, you and her father had succeed admirably.
The everglades is a place where even the experienced, well equipped bounty hunter can become the hunted, when his prey is the python. Even on dry land it can be deadly dangerous. Ask those who hunt this invasive species on it's native territory how it's done and how dangerous it is. Improve their methods with modern technology and safety devices. Allow only experienced groups of hunters as on land exterminators, and pay a profitable bounty. Do not wait until our adults children and pets are crushed and devoured by them, as they have been for much of known time, where they came from.
I rest my case.
Introduce a new more dangerous apex predator.
The mitt romney LBO team.
That should do it.
....and I rest my case.
Save a life eat a python
No one knows the Everglades like the people that live there. I'm sure they'd be glad to hunt them out.
You spelled your name wrong, and you fail as a troll.
Hunt them and kill them or shut up.