Sniffing out giant snakes is natural to Python Pete
3/22/2006 7:15:44 PM by Susan Cocking
He has sparkling brown eyes, a keen nose, friendly disposition, and will go all out to win a treat. Though frightened by balloons, he is fearless when it comes to giant Burmese pythons.
Meet Python Pete, a 16-month-old beagle whose job is to sniff out unwelcome snakes in the Everglades. Trained since puppy-hood by his owner/handler Lori Oberhofer – a biologist at Everglades National Park – Pete recently has begun actual tracking missions – with mixed success.
“Pete is one of the tools to try to better control and remove snakes from the park,” said biologist Skip Snow, Oberhofer’s colleague. “But we don’t ever plan on using him off the leash.”
Pete’s mission consists of finding pythons – not catching or killing them. That’s the job of the park’s human custodians who are alarmed by the growing population of exotic snakes in a pristine wilderness where they pose a threat to native species – wading birds; small rodents; and even deer and panther. No one knows how many of the Southeast Asian snakes inhabit the Everglades. But, in the past five years, more than 270 – including one found in December that measured 16 feet long – have been removed from inside and around the park.
Pythons have engaged in epic battles with native alligators – some winning, some losing and some ending in a draw. Last September, biologists discovered a dead 13-foot python with a dead six-foot gator protruding from its belly. The gory photos were flashed around the world.
Officials believe some pythons are former pets discarded by their owners after they grew too large to keep. But, those snakes have found each other and are reproducing in the wild. Park workers have found snakes large and small along the main park road; in Long Pine Key and Shark Valley; along Tamiami Trail; atop canal levees and in remote back country mangrove areas.
“The numbers represent a great deal of concern,” Snow said. “It shows a potential to get out of hand.”
To try to control the python population, scientists are working to develop an effective trap that will work on land and in the water. They are getting the word out to pet shops, importers, and reptile enthusiasts that it is illegal to release exotic species into the wild. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is considering tougher penalties for discarding exotics and stricter laws on enclosures and handling practices by dealers and collectors.
But, for right now, Pete is manning – or dogging – the front line in the struggle against the growing snake threat in the Everglades. Since he was eight weeks old, Oberhofer has been using two “training snakes” – Burmese Bart and Burmese Bob – to teach him how to track. She drags the snakes – safely confined in a Martha Stewart mesh laundry bag – lightly along the ground to spread their musk, and then hides them. She gets Pete into his special red “working” harness, and holds his leash while he follows the scent. If he finds the bag with the snake, he gets a treat.
So far, Pete has yet to find a snake in the wild. But, he has come close a couple of times. Recently, he tracked a python off the main park road but lost the scent in a marsh. Oberhofer went in and began kicking around in the wetland with her boot – and discovered a 10-footer.
On a recent cool, windy morning, Oberhofer and Pete investigated a report by a colleague that she had run over a five-foot python with her car on the road to the park’s Daniel Beard Research Center. The colleague thoughtfully marked the area where the still-alive snake had hissed and struck at her, and then disappeared into the woods.
Pete – dressed in his red harness – was all business, panting anxiously as he and Oberhofer stepped into the piney brush covered with deadfalls from Hurricane Wilma.
“Find it, Pete!” Oberhofer urged.
The beagle plunged into the heavy brush, dragging Oberhofer after him as he nosed beneath clumps of poison ivy and overturned logs. He got particularly animated when he sniffed the muddy ground around a partially-overturned pine. Closer inspection revealed a hole in the mud beneath the tree trunk – too small for a beagle to penetrate.
“I think it’s in there,” Oberhofer said.
The snake wouldn’t come out, so the two trackers gave up after about 45 minutes.
“Hopefully, we’ll spot [the snake] again when it’s sunny and it comes up on the road,” Oberhofer said. She gave Pete some water and a well-deserved treat and he licked her face.
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REPORT PYTHON SIGHTINGS Boaters, hikers or fishermen in Everglades National Park who spot a Burmese python are asked to telephone 305-815-2080 as soon as possiblefollowing the encounter and include as many specifics as possible, suchas time, exact location, and size of the animal.
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