The thinking behind this hunt is fascinating. Throughout the south snake round-ups are held. Originally those round-ups were created as a way of ridding the countryside of venomous snakes. If snakes are killing your sheep, it makes sense to remove the snakes. Many still believe today that snake round-ups are good. Those round-ups have slowly devolved over the years to an excuse to hold a festival and to party. Texas rattlesnake round-ups provide games, rides and treats for children. They, of course, have fried rattlesnake and beer for adults. In addition there are the multiple contests involving rattlesnakes. How fast would it take you to put 10 rattlesnakes in a bag?
In Florida the reason for having round-up is different. The Python is not indigenous to the everglades. Rather they have been introduced by irresponsible people who owned a snake until it got to big. What to do then? Release it into the wild. It turns out the everglades is a great environment for pythons to live and grow. Unfortunately they are disturbing a very delicate ecosystem. It is estimated that there are 11,000 pythons in the everglades. Luckily, 11 have been killed. Boy, those Floridians are making great progress!
In Texas they are killing snakes for just being snakes. All they did was live life like God intended. In Florida they are killing snakes because they are thriving in a place where man put them. Somehow in the end the snakes, and the environment, will win.
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