Florida’s invasive species problem

Florida, what a lovely place, the best wildlife to experience. American alligators are my particular favorite. You may also see Burmese pythons, Oscar fish, Tegu, etc. However, what if I tell you the animals that I just mentioned except the American Alligators, the rest of the animals are Florida’s worst nightmare. Why? Because they are invasive, and there are thousands more species that are invasive. In addition, Florida is flooding with invasive species; I sometimes wonder how the native wildlife survives there because of the high competition. This is causing havoc on native wildlife in Florida. Moreover, Florida is not very good at controlling invasive species.

In fact, it has got to a point where Florida has to spend a lot of money to get rid of its invasive species. And it is harder than you think; for example  the Tegu is very smart and they are infamous for eating eggs, not just bird eggs, but turtle eggs, tortoise eggs, alligator eggs, crocodile eggs, the eggs of snakes, etc. These two qualities have made it an absolute disaster for the native species. In addition, because they are so smart, it is hard to catch them. You need a very experienced team to trap an animal like that.

But sometimes you can catch them but they breed too fast and they are killing too much native wildlife. One such example would be the Burmese python. The Burmese python is one of the biggest snakes on the planet. Therefore, you are going to need a big vehicle to transport them and some strong people to lift up the snake because it is also heavy. The Burmese python eats just anything that is slightly smaller than it is; this ferocious appetite has been a disaster for the native wildlife. In addition, they breed incredibly fast, so even if you were to catch a lot of other Burmese pythons the Burmese pythons that are born would replace them, and your hard work would go to waste. Therefore, that is one problem. In addition, many invasive species are competing with Florida’s native species, for example how the Burmese python is fighting the American alligator or how the Oscar fish is competing with native fish in Florida, which is harming the balance of the food chain and the environment. Invasive species are destroying Florida’s wildlife and Florida itself.

It may seem daunting to defeat the invasive species but I believe we can do it. I believe if the US government helps Florida by funding and if people come to Florida to catch more invasive animals and make sure no non-native animals cannot get into the wild. By them sneaking out of exotic pet shops or zoos or breeding facilities. We can make sure that the animal’s enclosure is secured from all sides. If we don’t give up and keep fighting against the invasive then one day, Florida will be free of any invasive animals and we will have saved thousands of wildlife and an entire ecosystem.