Miccosukee halt python studies

Tribe bans state and US efforts

In a move that stunned scientists, the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida has ordered a halt to ongoing research into Burmese pythons on a reservation spread across nearly 130 square miles, according to the tribe’s ecological research coordinator.

decision means that an ongoing study by a respected U.S. Geological Survey biologist tracking python habitats and movement will cease, along with the state’s effort to track African rock pythons on tribal land off Krome Avenue.

The Miccosukee’s researcher said the tribe has always considered the snakes sacred and that a change in leadership triggered the decision.

“The [tribe’s] wildlife unit will be catching them and disposing of them, but there will be no research,” said Gintas Zavadzkas, a tribe employee who coordinates efforts. Future work will have to be evaluated on a “case-by-case” basis, he said.

Tribal officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zavadzkas said the decision arose from the tribe’s frustration with state and federal efforts to control invasive species, including the python, in the EverThe glades. As an example of agency dysfunction, he pointed to the state’s feud with federal wildlife officials over the spread of Old World climbing fern in Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Late last year, the South Florida Water Management District took steps to end a 65-year-old arrangement with U.S. Fish and Wildlife to manage the refuge, arguing the federal agency had