Editor’s Note: This story originally published in 2024.
Python Hunter Bayo Hernandez prefers Snake Surne as a burger with ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. Another hunter loves to skiing with Everglades’s scourge while stirring the pan or chili.
And there is always a recipe for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay for a sliced Python salad wrap with ascalonic garlic, pineapple and jalapeno.
However, the Florida Department of Health recently identified advice in the Python state, no matter what the size of the snake is, as it risks its meat due to unhealthy mercury levels.
The recommendation, which at least one scientist said that Pitonians, in the southwestern part of the state, have a lower levels of mercury, which means an emerging scheme that would help with the slaughter of the tops of predators because they are dinner tables.
“It’s a pity. I don’t know how much it would have been if people gave the pythons, but it doesn’t really hurt,” said Darren Rumbold, a professor of maritime and land science at the Gulf of the Gulf of Florida.
Like a fish, the department was able to make portion recommendations or the regions stated in which mercury levels became unsafe to eat animals caught there, Rumbold said.
“I think the Department of Health was too cautious saying that no one would eat it,” he said.
It is unclear when Python’s advice was posted. A few calls and email Letters were not returned to the Department of Health. However, 487 Department’s 487 snake toxicology results were explained by 2024. March 8th. By letter to FWC for non -local wildlife coordinator McKyla Spencer,
The letter received on the request of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was from the administrator of the Department of Health Michael Mitchell. He notes that since snakes do not have a known dish, the fish are used standard 8 ounces, and were also used in Python tests.
Mitchell said that not only the amount of mercury taken from fresh and marine waters, Mitchell said the FWC also tried mercury in Pythons, because “consumers ask if the meat is safe to eat”.
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The Department of Health, along with the FWC, was advised not to use python.
Based on the FWC Python Challenge, it does not mean that it is against Python eating, it is simply not recommended.
Why is mercury harmful if used in python meat or fish?
State officials monitor the level of mercury because the naturally occurring chemical element is neurotoxin, which can damage the functioning of the brain, damage the kidneys and damage the nervous systems, the US Environmental Protection Agency reports. This is particularly harmful to unborn babies and young children.
Hernandez, who is a contract for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) with Python Hunter, said he knew that Mercury’s level could be high in Pitonians. This is not a meal he has every day.
“But there are many recipes and you can experiment,” he said. “If you do it in pieces, it’s very difficult and chewing. How do you season how it will taste.”
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Studies determine lower levels of mercury in some Florida piton
Rumbold investigated the Python Mercury level near Naples. 2019 He published a document on environmental contamination and toxicology bulletin about conclusions. His co -author was Ian Bartoszek from the protection of southwest Florida.
Their investigation found a smaller amount of mercury in the Southwest Florida snake than in Everglades National Park. Park Pythons 2012 A “surprisingly high” level of mercury was found in a US geology survey conducted.
Most mercury in Florida is due to pollution in the sky, raining from tall clouds that pull it to the upper levels of atmosphere. Burning coal, oil and wood can release mercury into the air.
In the Everglades National Park, mercury can be mixed with sulfur from agriculture. Sulfur oxidizes into sulfate, which gives the energy to microbes that turn mercury into a methylmerge, which is what accumulates in the food chain.
Because it is drier in Southwest Florida, animals consume less mercury heavy fish used by the pythons, Rumbold said.
“Mercury’s biomagnification when it is spent through the food chain. The more pythons are integrated into the water food network, the likely they have mercury,” said Rumbold.
2019 The study also found a low correlation between python size, age and mercury level. In the water, the largest, oldest fish, which have a lower prey, usually have the highest mercury concentration.
Rumbold believes that the Department of Health could selectively choose to allow python use from a snake caught in the southwestern state area, much like the tips issued to fish, depending on where they are caught.
“They do not want to watch the pythons over time, so they do not want to spend anything specifically for the region,” said Rumbold.
Florida sincerely began hunting for pythons around 2012.
Python Hunter Donna Kalil makes a snake egg.
Since the FWC and the district, along with invasive species, have been removed by more than 14,500 pythons. Most pythons removed in one year were 2629 2020.
Around the Florida Python hunters and the annual Python Challenge attracted the rocker Ozzy Osbourne, who participated in the hunting show on Ozzy & Jack’s World. Chef Gordon Ramsey caught and prepared Python for his performance “F Word”. Ramsay said Python was dry and sinusy, so he added fat fat and grind it as Hernandez liked.
Hernandez said he also eats invasive Iguan.
“When my kids come, I surprise them,” Hernandez said. “If I ask my oldest son, what the strangest thing he eats, he will say, ‘I don’t know, ask your dad.”
Kimberly Miller is a Palm Beach Post, a part of the Florida USA Today network, a journalist. It includes real estate and how growth affects the South Florida environment. Subscribe to dirt for a week of real estate roundness. If you have news tips, send them to [email protected]. Help keep our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article initially appeared at Palm Beach Post: Burmese Pythons: Florida snakes can be eaten, but mercury levels are high