Premium

Why Florida is using robot rabbits to capture pythons

How did pythons become such a major problem in Florida, and how will the robot rabbits help?

This undated photo provided by the South Florida Water Management District shows a robotic rabbit in the Florida Everglades. (Photo: AP)

Battling to control the population of Burmese pythons, authorities in Florida have turned to robot rabbits for help.

The giant snakes — an adult Burmese python can be around 6 ft to 9 ft in length — are not native to Florida, and have no natural predators here. They are feasting on the local fauna, with their camouflage making them difficult to catch.

Authorities, thus, are forced to look for creative solutions. After allowing bounty hunting of the snakes, holding an annual Florida Python Challenge to catch them, and fixing trackers on male snakes so they can lead the capturers to egg-laying females or to nests, the South Florida Water Management District is now using robot rabbits.

What are these robot rabbits?

These toy rabbits move, emit body heat, and smell like an actual rabbit. Authorities hope that once placed in the forests and swamps in and around Everglades National Park, the decoys will help bring the pythons out of their hiding spots, leading to their capture.

According to the Smithsonian magazine, these animatronic rabbits are “outfitted with motors and internal heaters designed to replicate the behaviors and body temperatures of live marsh rabbits (Sylvilagus palustris), which Burmese pythons love to eat.”

They are also fitted with a camera, which sends an alert to the monitoring team when a Burmese python approaches, so a removal team can be dispatched.

Actual rabbits were earlier used, but the animals needed a lot of looking after, making the process impractical.

Story continues below this ad

But how did Burmese pythons get into Florida?

The pythons are native to Southeast Asia, and arrived in Florida mainly through the exotic pet trade in the 1990s and early 2000s. Many then escaped into the wild, or were abandoned by their owners after they outgrew ‘pet animal’ dimensions.

The climate and vegetation in Florida, plus the lack of predators, has helped the python population thrive.

How have the pythons affected Florida’s local ecosystem?

Pythons pretty much eat anything, from rabbits to birds to even alligators.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), “Severe declines in mammal populations throughout Everglades National Park have been linked to Burmese pythons, with the most severe declines in native species having occurred in the remote southernmost regions of the Park where pythons have been established the longest. A 2012 study found that populations of raccoons had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997. Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time.”

What happens once a python is caught?

Story continues below this ad

The snakes are killed “in a humane manner”. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission details this “humane” method to kill the pythons.

First, they have to be “made to lose consciousness completely” so they don’t feel pain or terror. Their brain should then be “completely destroyed” in a process called pithing, to make sure they don’t regain consciousness and experience pain while they are being killed.

“Nonnative reptiles are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law. There is an ethical and legal obligation to ensure nonnative reptiles are killed in a humane manner,” the Commission’s website says.