Florida python hunt is on
Miami (CNN) -- Burmese pythons have been threatening
Florida's ecosystem for years, so the state is turning to the public
for help in the form of a hunting contest to cull the population.
Pregnant 17.5-foot python had 87 eggs
Eating through the Everglades
Python eats deer for last meal
(CNN) -- The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office
released the autopsy report on Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious
B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, on Friday, more than 15 years after the rapper
was shot to death.
Florida tackling python problem with hunting contest
December 7, 2012 -- Updated 2107 GMT (0507 HKT)
University of Florida researchers capture a 15-foot python that was part of a radio-telemetry study in Everglades National Park.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The state of Florida is launching the month-long 2013 Python Challenge
- The goal is to cull the exploding population of Burmese pythons, wildlife officials say
- Participants are given training for safety, instructed to kill the snakes humanely
- Researchers say pythons have devastated rabbit, fox, opossum and bobcat populations
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has announced the 2013 Python Challenge beginning in January.
"We are hoping to gauge
from the python challenge the effectiveness of using an incentive-based
model as a tool to address this problem," says Florida Wildlife
Commission spokeswoman Carli Segelson.
A grand prize of $1,500
will be awarded to the person who kills the most pythons, and $1,000
will go to the person who bags the longest one. According to the rules,
road kill will not be eligible.
Participants will pay a
$25 registration fee and complete an online training course. The
training focuses on safety while hunting pythons.
Pregnant 17.5-foot python had 87 eggs
Eating through the Everglades
Python eats deer for last meal
"It's very difficult to
find these animals and we don't really have a good strategy on how to
contain this population," said Linda Friar, spokeswoman for Everglades
National Park. "This is a pilot to see if it will gain public interest
in areas that you can hunt so that they would be able to remove and
capture these snakes."
The Burmese python is
native to Southeast Asia and was first found in the Everglades in 1979,
according to researchers at the University of Florida.
These snakes were
determined to be an established species in 2000. It is believed that the
snakes were originally pets that found their way into Everglades
National Park.
The Everglades, known as
the river of grass, is a vast area with a climate perfect for the
pythons to hide and thrive. And thrive they do: The largest Burmese
python ever found in Florida -- its 17 foot, 6-inch carcass weighed 164.5 pounds -- was harvested in the Everglades in August. Researchers at the University of Florida found 87 eggs inside the snake.
Friar told CNN earlier this year that it is believed "tens of thousands" of Burmese pythons live in the Everglades.
The snakes prey on
native wildlife such as the endangered Key Largo wood rat and the
endangered wood stork. The largest prey, Friar told CNN, was a 76-pound
deer that was found in the stomach of a 16-foot python a few months ago.
Earlier this year, researchers at Virginia Tech University, Davidson College and the U.S. Geological Survey reported that populations of rabbits and foxes have disappeared and numbers of raccoons, opossums and bobcats have dropped as much as 99%.
In January, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service instituted a ban on the importation of Burmese
pythons -- along with three other species of exotic snake -- and their
eggs.
The Python Challenge has
laid out four specific areas where the snakes can be harvested, and the
park is off-limits to the general public.
"The park is very restricted on what it can do as far as animal captures and removal," Friar said.
The python problem has spread to other wildlife management areas in the state besides the Everglades.
"We're supportive of the
state exploring various measures in order to reduce the populations
outside the park," Friar said. In the end, she said, "it will also
reduce the population of the snakes that get into the park."
According to the rules of the contest, reducing the population means killing the snakes.
"We want to make sure
this is done in a humane way," Segelson said. The competition's website
lists several ways to kill a python "in a humane manner that results in
immediate loss of consciousness and destruction of the brain."
It suggests shooting the snake in the head with a firearm or decapitating it with a machete.
Wildlife officials say
the 2013 Python Challenge is not only about killing snakes. "One of
things that is very important to us is to educate the public about the
Burmese python and how this species is impacting the state of Florida,"
Segelson said.
"We're hoping to inform
people ... if they do have exotic pets that they understand the
importance of not releasing them into the wild."
The contest begins January 12 and ends at midnight on February 10.
Notorious B.I.G. autopsy released, 15 years after his death
December 9, 2012 -- Updated 1555 GMT (2355 HKT)
Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace attends the 1995 Billboard Music Awards in 1995 in New York. He was killed in 1997.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G., was shot and killed in Los Angeles
- The autopsy report shows Wallace suffered four gunshot wounds, one of which was fatal
- His killing remains unsolved despite investigations by the Los Angeles police, FBI
The 23-page report offers fresh details about his death, which remains one of the city's best-known unsolved homicides.
Wallace, 24, was shot and killed early on March 9, 1997, as
he was leaving a music industry party. He was riding in the front
passenger seat of a Chevrolet Suburban when another vehicle pulled up
beside his and someone opened fire.
Wallace was shot four times, according to the autopsy report.
The fatal bullet entered
his right hip and ripped through several organs, including his liver,
heart and lung. The other bullets struck Wallace in his left forearm,
his back and his left thigh.
He was taken to
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he arrived in full cardiac arrest and
was pronounced dead shortly after 1 a.m.
At the time of his death,
he had no drugs or alcohol in his system. Wallace was 6 feet, 2 inches
tall, weighed 395 pounds and had a tattoo on his right forearm that
read: "The Lord is My Light and my Salvation ..."
His slaying has long stumped investigators.
Los Angeles police and the FBI both looked into the case but made no arrests.
Wallace was killed just
six months after his former friend and rap rival Tupac Shakur was gunned
down in Las Vegas, leading some to believe both shootings were tied to a
so-called rap war between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop artists and
their record companies.
Shakur recorded for
Marion "Suge" Knight's Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, while
Wallace was signed with New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment.
Shakur's killing is also unsolved.
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