Florida's Invasive Burmese Pythons “Likely Impossible” To Defeat, Scientists Worry

Burmese pythons have spread exponentially in the past 20 years, now appearing as far north as West Palm Beach and Fort Myers.

Florida residents will need to get used to their most-troublesome neighbors.

Despite some progress, complete eradication of Burmese pythons in southern Florida was deemed “likely impossible" by authors of a paper produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) earlier this year.

The paper, published in January, analyzed 250 studies from over three decades about the invasive species' presence in Florida and its rapid spread across the state. Experts even went so far as to categorize efforts to control the pythons as “one of the most intractable invasive-species management issues across the globe.”

Burmese python sightings in Florida were first recorded around Everglades National Park (ENP) in 1979. Subsequent sightings were written off as "individual escapes or releases" until the late 1990s and early 2000s, "when confirmation of a reproducing [python] population in ENP prompted their recognition as an established invasive species."

In the four decades since the first invader was recorded in Florida, the python population has grown and spread, “consuming native wildlife and altering the food web in the Everglades," the paper notes.

According to maps shared by the Sun-Sentinel, Burmese pythons have spread exponentially in the past 20 years, now appearing as far north as West Palm Beach and Fort Myers.