Exterminating an invasive species?

Yes. My first husband collected exotic reptiles. He had a 13 foot python and several boa constrictors.

One of the big boas got loose and we figured it had gone outside and frozen to death. Then one night, months later, while he was away at his job (the zoo) I put my toddler to bed, turned out the light and then reached up to push his door all the way open. I don't like doors at half mast.

I felt something I thought might be a quilt, but I turned on the light and saw it was the boa, about twice the size he used to be, over ten feet, I got a trash can with had a tight lid, opened the lid, and grabbed him behind the head, the only place small enough to get my hand around. I slammed him down into the trash bin and closed and sealed the lid before he knew quite what was happening.

When the husband came home I told him what had happened and his first concern was that the poor snake might have smothered to death.

Ex-husband. Talk about your invasive species.
 
Della said:
Yes. My first husband collected exotic reptiles. He had a 13 foot python and several boa constrictors. One of the big boas got loose and we figured it had gone outside and frozen to death. Then one night, months later, while he was away at his job (the zoo) I put my toddler to bed, turned out the light and then reached up to push his door all the way open. I don't like doors at half mast. I felt something I thought might be a quilt, but I turned on the light and saw it was the boa, about twice the size he used to be, over ten feet, I got a trash can with had a tight lid, opened the lid, and grabbed him behind the head, the only place small enough to get my hand around. I slammed him down into the trash bin and closed and sealed the lid before he knew quite what was happening. When the husband came home I told him what had happened and his first concern was that the poor snake might have smothered to death.
Ex-husband. Talk about your invasive species.
Click to expand...

People with small children should never keep large snakes, they’re dangerous, and too many people just don’t understand that. That boa could have killed your child.
 
Let Mother Nature deal with it, or bring in it's natural predator if it has one. I'm not killing a living creature that hasn't done anything to me just because someone tells me I should. Let them do it while they figure out who screwed up.
 
Well yes we should remove the invasive species where we can however you'll never eradicate every one of them it's just like trying to kill off all the coyotes good luck with that there's been bounties put on them for years and in fact they're more plentiful than they were years ago.
 
Pepper said:
No, @medic, you may not exterminate feral cats. How dare you. Don't do it. Please.
Click to expand...
Its not that I want to.. And we have had issues with them around here for years. At one time the lady next-door fed the strays and ended up with over 40 inbred feral cats. I have trapped several to be fixed vaccinated and turned lose as barn cats over the years, but currently our shelter is maxed out.
 
As a landscape photographer, I especially hate invasive Euro-Asian grains and grasses early settlers brought with them that have since destroyed most grassland native plant species in California. Also immensely bad in our Southwest deserts are the Sahara mustards. Thus when out roaming in such landscapes during spring when some areas have vast areas of wildflowers, I will purposely step on alien species while avoiding stepping on natives. Otherwise, our endless Wall Street driven infrastructure, development, and population growth has destroyed vast lower elevation natural environments to no ones benefit except wealth mongers.

For vertebrate species, much depends on specifics. Non-native fish were planted in many waters long ago often totally removing natives such that extermination now is often impossible. And our excessive damned dams exterminated the rest. Lake Tahoe once had runs of giant salmon sized cutthroat trout that were exterminated due to overfishing feeding Nevada miners with remaining populations only resident in Pyramid Lake of Nevada. Humans exterminated grizzly bears with few people wanting to bring them back as they can be very dangerous. Hunters brought in European wild boars across the continent that have destroyed native plants in many areas and many states allow shooting any without even a license.

Our urban areas like where I live are overrun with eastern tree squirrels, but there isn't much reason to exterminate them because their range is just urban where people don't care. And then there are alien disease carrying, foul, Norway rats humans brought in from infested ships that infest all urban areas and are universally hated and exterminated as much as is possible. Feral cats kill rats and mice, but also birds so it depends on specifics. So black and white thinking has no place in these issues, as it depends...
 
Last edited:
old medic said:
A cute little kitten clawed and bit the hell out of me yesterday. The moms hanging around the bird feeders looking to catch dinner.
Click to expand...
I completely avoid feral cats myself. I don't know if the one that bit you was, but they are nasty creatures. I can't even use the picnic area at my building. They poop and have sex everywhere. I wouldn't kill one, but there plenty of dead kitten and cat bodies in the area, and I don't mind that.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top