Floridians may start to see a new slippery item on their menus – Burmese pythons. The invasive species is so out of control in the state that the government can start encouraging the new meal as a way to keep the snake numbers under control as long as it is not filled with toxic mercury.
Prior to the recommendation, however, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) worked with the Florida Department of Health to determine whether the Mercury levels in pythons are safe to consume.
If that is the case, the python hunter Donna Kalil is already before the game. She hunts pythons for the South Florida Water Management District and estimates that she has eaten a dozen pythons in the past three years. South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“It’s a delicious meat that tastes good,” Kalil told Sentinel. She describes it as an “acquired thought process” more than an “acquired taste.”
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The python problem
Burmese pythons settled in the Everglades National Park in South Florida in the mid-1990s, most likely as pets that were released or escaped, and then became invasive, according to the FWC. A species becomes invasive when it lands somewhere, due to humans, and disturbs the balance of its new ecosystem, which did not evolve to cope with alien invaders. Live Science reported earlier.
Recent data suggest that the python population is expanding north and west within Sunshine State. The longest Burmese python caught in Florida was more than 18 feet (5.4 meters) long. Usually it averages between 1.8 and 2.7 meters. Due to their large size, the snakes have few predators and will devour a variety of animals, including mammals, birds and even alligators. Some of these prey are endangered or endangered native species, according to the FWC.
It is not unheard of for an invasive or simply troublesome species to be eaten as a way of controlling their population. In Florida, the non-native leeuvis and wild pigs can be consumed, for example. Even iguanas are called the ‘chicken of the trees’, with the publication of the University of Florida recipe ideas. What, then, is different about pythons?
Mercury collected
Python meat can be particularly vulnerable to mercury contamination, which poses a threat to human health.
Mercury is a natural element in the earth’s crust, but human activities, such as the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, have led to the release of high levels of mercury into the atmosphere. It is then carried back to earth by the rainfall. Mercury pollution in the Everglades is particularly high, as water that evaporates from its lush vegetation leads to the formation of giant mercury-absorbing rain clouds that hover above the area for most of the year. Live Science reported earlier.
When mercury enters our freshwater and seawater systems, certain microorganisms can pick it up and convert it into methylmercury. This form builds up in the food chain as one infected animal is eaten by another. For a giant snake sailing through brush-infested swamps in almost everything that moves, the risk of contamination is very real.
Some of the pythons found in the Everglades have previously recorded ‘remarkably high levels of mercury’, more than double those that the state of Florida considers safe for edible fish. Live Science reported earlier. If it is digested by humans, mercury poisoning can cause various conditions, including neurological and chromosomal problems and birth defects.
In the new research, scientists will measure mercury levels in tissue of captured pythons. The aim of the study is to “develop and share consumer advice for Burmese pythons in South Florida to better inform the public,” said Susan Neel, spokeswoman for FWC Wildlife. CNN.
If you are worried about Kalil, who eats rattlesnake several times a week, you do not need to do this. According to the Sentinel, her daughter bought her a test kit for mercury to confirm that the snakes she eats are safe.
Originally published on Live Science.