A fanciful look at Burmese pythons becoming established in Florida.

Python snakes of the Burmese kind,
an Asian species growing 23 feet long,
now are in Florida! It’ll blow your mind.
They’re not native; they don’t belong.

Yet, entrenched in the Everglades and
now recently encountered in the Keys,
these giant snakes threaten to expand
their range wider in Florida by degrees.

Released by, or escaped from, their pet
owners, these pythons feel right at home
in Florida’s marshes and mangroves. Get
busy, people; don’t let them freely roam.

They’re invasive creatures with voracious
appetites. Neither man nor beast will be
safe to go in the waters. A quite tenacious
campaign to control them is needed, all agree.

From rats to alligators, native fauna all are
pythons’ prey. No one can relax, be at ease
with giant snakes slithering about. Bizarre,
but their spread needs “cutting off at the knees”.


[Note: This poem was inspired after reading the article "Python Patrol" by Jill Austin in Nature Conservancy magazine, Autumn, 2008 issue, page 13.]