In this Feb. 6, 2013 photo, a feral cat eats cat food from a box left by a cat lover behind a grocery store in Key Largo, Fla.
In this Feb. 14 , 2013 photo taken at the University of Florida campus in Davie, Fla., a captured Cuban treefrog is on display.
In this Feb. 14 , 2013 photo taken at the University of Florida campus in Davie, Fla., a young captured tegu-lizard is on display.
KEY LARGO, Fla. — While hunters stalked the elusive Burmese python through Florida's Everglades over the past month, state and federal wildlife officials set traps for other animals menacing native wildlife in a fragile ecosystem.
The python gets most of the attention in Florida's animal kingdom and is accused of decimating populations of native mammals in the Everglades, but wildlife officials say other species including feral cats, black-and-white tegu lizards and Cuban tree frogs pose equally serious threats.
And while a state-organized Python Challenge was held this year, a Kitty Cat Challenge or Lizard Chase is unlikely. Killing or capturing feral cats would be controversial, and other species lack the daring appeal of pythons.
"A 'Cuban Tree Frog Challenge' wouldn't get anyone excited. I'm saying that in the context of understanding how humans respond to things," said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida professor of wildlife ecology who is helping the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with the python hunt.
State wildlife officials say the monthlong python hunt that ended Sunday was a success in raising awareness about invasive species, even though the number of snakes killed idled at 50 in the hunt's last days. The final tally will be announced at an awards ceremony Saturday. Cash prizes will be awarded to the hunters who bagged the longest python and killed the most snakes.
No one knows for sure how many pythons live in the Everglades. Wildlife officials estimate about 10,000 to 100,000, but that's small compared with the several million feral and free-ranging cats believed to be stalking through Florida.
Those cats kill several million wild animals in Florida each year, hunting even when they're regularly fed, state officials say. At particular risk are small mammals and migratory birds that pass through the suburban areas where cats roam. Food laid out for cats also can attract raccoons and other wildlife, which can bring disease or disrupt nearby turtle and bird nests.
For the most part, the state leaves feral cat control to local authorities, some of whom promote managing cat populations through spaying or neutering but still allow the cats to roam.
State and federal officials discourage such trap-neuter-return programs because they don't protect native wildlife. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month finalized a plan that includes setting traps for cats and other predators in national wildlife refuges in the Florida Keys, where cats are known to pounce on the dwindling populations of two endangered species, the Key Largo wood rat and the Lower Keys marsh rabbit.
Those mammals have lost habitat to development in the Keys, but predation by cats is their highest source of mortality, said Phillip Hughes, an ecologist with the federal wildlife agency in the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges Complex, comprising four refuges that stretch from the waters off Key West to where Key Largo meets the Everglades.
"Those cats include cats from people's homes as well as feral and the whole spectrum of free-roaming cats," Hughes said.
"They're preying on some of these vulnerable, small animals at a faster rate than they can replace themselves with."
Native wildlife caught in the traps will be released, but invasive species such as pythons, Nile monitor lizards, armadillos or opossums will be euthanized. Cats that are caught will be transferred to a shelter. Cats elicited far more sympathy and attention in public comments to the plan than other invasive animals.
Overall, Florida is home to more exotic species of amphibians and reptiles than anywhere else in the world, say researchers whose goal is to keep them from becoming so numerous that they're considered established.
It's too late to go after some, such as the Cuban tree frog, because they're too numerous throughout the ecosystem, Mazzotti said.
But it might not be for the tegus, South American lizards that gorge on eggs and invade the burrows of the endangered gopher tortoise. The wildlife commission is working with partner agencies to trap tegus and a handful of other animals, hoping to control or eradicate their populations before they become significant threats.
But other troublesome species are as difficult to spot in the Everglades as the splotchy Burmese python.
"You talk about pythons being the tip of the invasive species iceberg — well, all the fish are under water, so there's no attention paid to their possible spread," Mazzotti said.
Officials say the best solution to Florida's invasive species problems starts long before traps are set or hunts begin. They advocate responsible pet ownership, hold amnesty days for relinquishing exotic animals and encourage people to report sightings to a hotline.
"It's not just about pythons," said Kristen Sommers, head of the wildlife commission's exotic species coordination section. "It's about addressing this holistic view of removing nonnative wildlife from our lands."
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Comments » 26
Localmotion writes:
Not to mention that pesky Skunk Ape.
beerbong writes:
Free ranging cats. They should put a bounty on them. And jail the people that feed them.
volochine writes:
I learned tonight that armadillos and possums are non-native species to Florida. I did not know that. Thanks.
I used to see both species a lot at night. Haven't seen them for a couple of years, but I live west of Coconut Point.
DownsouthGOTman writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Bramble writes:
The python hunt was another really bad and unhelpful idea by state officials, producing only 50 "kills" of pythons and who knows what else the "hunters" shot at out of boredom.
It rivals the disastrous plan to eliminate citrus canker.
Why were people allowed to import pythons in the first place? No one wondered about what would happen if they got into the wild here???
Localmotion writes:
If you hit one of those Flo polecats with your truck it can really stink it up. Avoid that collision too, if you can.
light writes:
Pythons not Florida's only invasive animal problem. According to some, humans are the problem.
woods311 writes:
It just keeps getting better. They are really getting desperate.
This effort proves that the "python" is a scam to get federally printed and borrowed funny money, and justify the jobs of pin headed, bean counting bureaucrats.
I am glad they figured out that a Kitty Cat Challenge or Lizard Chase is unlikely, and
"A 'Cuban Tree Frog Challenge' wouldn't get anyone excited.
No funny money here.
I feel better after reading these words of wisdom from an expert.
"You talk about pythons being the tip of the invasive species iceberg — well, all the fish are under water, so there's no attention paid to their possible spread," Mazzotti said.
"Armadillos or opossums will be euthanized."
Aren't they food for panthers, coyotes and bobcats?
Overall, Florida is home to more exotic species of amphibians and reptiles than anywhere else in the world.
The biggest threat to the ecology of Florida is the exotic species known as "people" from Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois etc,etc.
"It's about addressing this holistic view of removing nonnative wildlife from our lands."
Lets all stand up, be green, and save the environment.
Malarkey!
friendoffelines writes:
The article describes feral cat eradication programs as controversial, but the only controversy is over why agencies pursue kill programs against feral cats when there is no evidence, from anywhere other than a few remote islands, that killing accomplishes any lasting results.
Everywhere else kill programs are tried there is an immediate reduction of targeted species, yes, but they never get them all. Then the remaining members of targeted species and those roamers looking for new homes now have plenty of room to grow and do, with numbers even larger than before.
On the other hand, Trap Neuter Release programs have PROVEN themselves to be effective and humane biological controls for invasive species.
Also, it's often overlooked that habitat destruction and pollution are far more harmful and responsible for MOST of the reductions of native species rather than the feral and free roaming cats that are too often blamed for all the natural world's ills.
LSPinNaples writes:
Another invasive snake is the governor. Get rid of him.
marti43 writes:
The most dangerous species in the state is the two legged variety that lets cats roam free to kill constsntly. The problem is well past a public health issue.
blueblueblue writes:
Yep, gotta agree with you 100%. Proof of it? Every time I walk the beach, which is a few times a week, I pick up a LOT more cigarette butts between the months of November-April than any other time of the year.
PICK UP YOUR BUTTS, SLOBS!
blueblueblue writes:
GREAT post!
TiredoftheBS writes:
The feral cat population in my area is being kept easily and cheaply in check.
Rarely does it involve using a firearm.
Therealist writes:
Those border hoppers are the only invasive species I'm worried about right now.
meister writes:
I'm a friend of birds. Studys have been done and even the Domestic cat is known for killing birds and mammals for sport. They bring the kill home as a kind of trophy. I have noticed a population reduction of winged wildlife throughout our environment. My Favorite feline is the Puma. All Ferrals should be removed from the Eco System.
greathornedlizard writes:
Don't forget those wacky "Jesus Christ lizards," there all over the place at Vanderbilt Beach.
It's a real surprise to see them stand up on their hind legs and run after sparrows.
paul_vincent_zecchino writes:
People pick up on crazy, cruel kicks. Before they do so with this one, let's cut it: feral cats are no threat to bird life. Birds have two things which cats lack: wings. They use them to fly away from ground based predators, which by the way cats rank among the laziest.
Feral cats kill off mostly small vermin, not such a terrible thing. Isn't that called the Balance of Nature, with which we are never, ever, supposed to tamper?
Is this just another anti-life, socialist experiment in the offing?
Where's the so-called animal rights groups? Why aren't we hearing from them, now that phoney junk 'studies' published over the last few months have made it obvious, the usual gang of leftists are putting a bounty on cats?
Once the killing starts, it never ends. A few years ago, the Swells on Boca Grande contrived all manner of hysterical fairy tales to justify ridding the island of Iguanas, because they were scared of them.
Some of them took maimed but did not kill the Iguanas with BB guns - so much for the liberal aversion to firearms and animal cruelty, eh?
In time, a couple cold winters cured the problem: no more Iguanas.
Those who tout this cruel nonsense are best ignored. They're never content until they're on your property, telling you who gets to live and who does not, in order to save the birds or the planet, or some such leftist inanity.
paul_vincent_zecchino writes:
Agree. There's always been a small bunch of Triple-A Sickolas who hate cats. They invent many absurd justifications for killing them, so they can get their cheap thrills.
Feral cats are no threat to birds. This latest anti-feral putsch is about getting federal funny money to go on The Great Cat Hunt, for fun and vicarious pleasure. It won't stop with ferals, rest assured. It'll stop when they come for your loved cats and dogs.
When societies turn primitive, socialistic, and feral, they attack their own citizens and vulnerable animals. The Salem witchhunters loved to drown cats, claiming the devil inhabited them. When Pharoah decided he disliked cats, Egyptians committed felinocide.
This 'let's get those evil cats' meme keeps regurgitating throughout the media, like the contents of a stopped-up toilet, and worth about as much.
Several years ago, some of the old sickolas were poisoning ferals, claiming they were the greatest threat to sea turtles. Yeah. Right.
This of course was just another lie. As with all dreary types who push this bolshevik bullshale, they overstated their phony case, claiming feral cats were digging up turtle eggs.
Picture it if you can: cats which can't stand to get dirty and are not known to dig, were said to be digging up the beach for turtle eggs, like a backhoe on jet fuel.
The problem with cranks and their nutty ideas is that eventually, they gain traction, which costs us liberty, wealth, and lives.
Nip this cancer in the bud now, before it metastisizes into your home and life.
BillBrasky writes:
The truth is people with all sorts of different beliefs and values move here from around the globe. Enough of these people are idiots who would release a pet. That we have sub tropical conditions allows these released pets to live and multiply, flourish and dominate in some cases.
Take the tinfoil off your head.
BillBrasky writes:
Feral cats kill millions of songbirds each year. Feral cats who have not been fixed reproduce at an alarming rate and literally eradicate certain areas of their bird population.
paul_vincent_zecchino writes:
Nice name, there. New. Same language is the telltale. Too bad.
Too bad, as well, there's not one scintilla of evidence to substantiate your claims of one million songbirds dead by feral cats, annually to boot.
About eighty percent of robins and other songbirds for whatever reason do not migrate south for the winter. They remain in northern cold climes, often in bogs in which they freeze to death.
Perhaps you can now claim that feral cats cause global cooling. Or is it 'climate change'? So hard to keep up with the latest slogans of the eco-alarmists.
Note well: if you press them on it, 'environmentalists' consider human beings to be the most offensive species in need of eradication.
Don't take my word for it. Try them out.
paul_vincent_zecchino writes:
Sorry, Bill a/k/a etc etc etc, for having misquoted you as claiming one million songbirds dead by feral cats annually, when in fact you claimed 'millions' dead by feral cats.
Millions. Why not billions? Perhaps trillions? Why not go for it, see if people will fall for it. You've no evidence to corroborate any of it anyway, right?
Your claim is reminiscent of the ruse the eco-freaks are using to destroy radio communications by limiting the height of towers to substandard levels. The eco-luddites repeatedly recite an old apocryphal tale of thirty-five thousand geese, if memory serves aright, killed when they hit a TV tower during a midwest blizzard.
Problem number one: who counted all the birds?
Problem number two: who noticed the birds in the first place, given that the transmitter site, as are most, was unmanned?
Problem three, of many: geese, as with other birds, do not migrate during blinding blizzards.
But none of those stubborn little facts ever get in the way of yet another pile of scare-tactic phony spook stories recited by environmentalistas whose true goal has been to destroy centuries of human advancement and replace it with nothing.
BillBrasky writes:
The only user name I've used is this one, whatever.
Anyway, there is copious evidence regarding the fact that feral cats eat millions of songbirds per year. 500 million per News-week and 480 million per year according to this site
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/...
feral cats have cause many species of birds in north america to go extinct. This is a very straight forward issue I don't know how there is any room for confusion on this one.
Based on your statement it seems like you live in your own world with your own facts anyway.
Your Quote "But none of those stubborn little facts ever get in the way of yet another pile of scare-tactic phony spook stories recited by environmentalistas whose true goal has been to destroy centuries of human advancement and replace it with nothing."
LOL take the tinfoil of your head indeed.
ttepper writes:
You folks in Florida realize that people all over the world read your comments. Do you intentionally want to sound like uneducated whoopies? Studies of feral cats and their damage to wildlife populations have been conducted by 2 universities and published in scientific journals. That means they are peer reviewed. Obviously you don't know what peer review is. It means you walk through fire to defend your methods before your scientific peers before you can publish your study. So if the studies indicates that feral cats destroy millions of songbirds, scientists have developed study methods to prove that statement. It's fact, not a theory. My guess if you never read a peer review scientific journal in your life.
It states in the article that the prize money for the python hunt was donated by foundations, therefore it was private, not government money spent on prizes.
Guess what Mr Who Counts the dead Geese?, there are people assigned to pick up and count dead songbirds that smash into the Hancock Building in Chicago during migration. Wildlife biologists are required to go out an count dead birds and bats that are killed by wind turbines generators. Same thing with power line and transmission towers. It's called "research" Yes, these are a real jobs and 2 seconds of Googling would have allowed you to find that out.
So, you folks in Florida don't want Northern invasive humans. So if they stopped coming for the winter, how many of you Floridians would be unemployed. How would all you Floridians who make a living from invasive humans feed your families and pay your bills? Just wondering, since a lot of you piled on that comment
Here's hoping that the pythons keep eating your native wildlife. Seems from the comments, ya'll want it that way, because it's better than figuring out what to do.
maersk writes:
BillBrasky writes:
"feral cats have cause many species of birds in north america to go extinct"
this is pure unadulterated BS. what species exactly have been pushed into total extinction by cats? i will bet real money the number is 0.
more crap spewed by enviro-radicals.
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