Following the conclusion of its annual Python Hunting Challenge, which allows hunters to kill thousands of the invasive snakes, Florida has announced a new plan to remove the unwanted critters using robotic animals.
According to the Associated Press, the South Florida Water Management District is testing a program which would use robotic bunny rabbits to deter Burmese pythons which are running rampant in the Sunshine State’s Everglades National Park. Officials estimate that 95 percent of the park’s small mammals, as well as thousands of birds, have been killed by the predators.
The Water Management District says that the bunnies will be used to ferret out the snakes, which is the trickiest part of the removal process. “Removing them is fairly simple. It’s detection. We’re having a really hard time finding them,” explained Mike Kirkland, lead invasive animal biologist for the Water Management District. “They’re so well camouflaged in the field.”
Researchers from the Water Management District and the University of Florida spent this summer testing out around 120 robotic rabbits, which are designed to resemble and sound like an Everglades marsh rabbit. Officials had previously used real rabbits in an attempt to lure pythons, to little success. The new robots are solar powered and monitored by researchers through cameras. When one of the cameras detects a python is closing in on one of the bunny rabbits, a human is sent in to capture the animal.
“I can deploy one of our many contractors to go out and remove the python,” Kirkland said. “This part of the project is in its infancy,” he added. “We are confident, though, that this will work once we are given enough time to work out some of these details.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reports that, although Burmese pythons are not native to the state, a large contingent has ended up in Florida likely due to escaping from the exotic pet trade or being re-released into the wild by owners incapable of properly caring for them. CBS News reports that over 23,000 pythons have been removed from Florida since 2000.
