Otus the Head Cat

Nine dog squeezers nabbed in Reptile Roundup

Maumelle city employees Jessie Bordell (left) and Marc Shannon wrangle one of the nine pythons found around Lake Willastein on Monday. No snakes were harmed in the annual relocation.Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat’s award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday
Maumelle city employees Jessie Bordell (left) and Marc Shannon wrangle one of the nine pythons found around Lake Willastein on Monday. No snakes were harmed in the annual relocation.Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat’s award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday

Dear Otus,

As we do every year, we welcomed the arrival of spring (my favorite season) on Monday. I noticed a lot of activity around Lake Willastein Park that day and saw that the walking trail was closed. Was this due to the annual snake rodeo? If so, how many did they capture this year?


Disclaimer: Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat's award-winning column of 👉 humorous fabrication 👈 appears every Saturday.

-- Viv Arium,

Maumelle

Dear Viv,

It was wholly a pleasure to hear from you and a further pleasure to report there was a record roundup at the park and Maumellians should enjoy an almost snake-free spring and summer.

One note: The Maumelle City Council officially changed the name of the event from Snake Rodeo to Reptile Roundup in 2015 after the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals complained the original name made it sound as if some sort of animal cruelty carnival was being held.

Reptile Roundup better conveys the goals of the daylong event by Maumelle Parks and Recreation to find, capture and relocate all the unwanted snakes and reptilian inhabitants from the lake and surrounding parkland.

This was the ninth consecutive year for the roundup that began in 2009 when it was discovered that a number of Burmese pythons had been released into the lake and made their nests near the 1942 Maumelle Ordnance Works Bunker No. 4 on the park's south side.

In addition, a half dozen snake nests were discovered on the long island opposite Southshore Drive and on the smaller oval island in the lake's northern extension opposite Lake Willastein Drive and the Parc at Maumelle Apartments.

Burmese pythons can grow to 23 feet, but the biggest yet found on the lake was only 11 feet. The Willastein infestation first came to the attention of authorities when one of the reclusive critters ventured into the backyards behind Nimrod Cove and ate Flossie Torgerson's 2-pound pet Chihuahua.

The dog, which had recently recovered from the often-fatal infection known as parvovirus, had ventured outside through the kitchen's doggy door when it encountered the snake coiled on the patio. "I think I'll hear her scream for as long as I live," Torgerson told the Maumelle Monitor at the time.

The Maumelle Herpetological Association sprang into action and hired renowned Cajun snake whisperer Langue Fourchue from Houma, La., to handle the situation.

Fourche's Snake Wrangler series ran for five seasons on the Discovery Channel. Each episode usually found him in an airboat or a johnboat somewhere in the swamps of Louisiana or Florida.

To calm fears, Maumelle set up a large tent and put on a festival at the fishing dock near Lake Willastein Drive and held a blessing of the animals by the Primitive Apostolic Holiness Church of the Divine Anointed Apostle of Christ in Glory in Vilonia.

Meanwhile, Discovery camera crews followed Fourchue as he searched for the dog-killing snake. At one point he leapt from his boat into the shallow water near the Veteran's Memorial. There were a few minutes of general thrashing and splashing before Fourchue popped up with a python wrapped around his arm and curled around his waist. It was dramatic stuff.

Florida's python influx began following 1992's Hurricane Andrew. The storm cleared the swamp of natural predators and allowed escaped pythons to overrun the area.

The Burmese python (now officially known as the Myanmarese python) has surfaced in other warm Southern locations due to ill-informed travelers bringing the cute baby pythons home from trips to Disney World and then releasing them when they grew too large for home cages.

A baby Myanmarese python is passive, affectionate and seems ideal as a pet. However, after two or three years, their diet of cockroaches expands to mice and rats and the occasional small dog or family cat.

Fourchue captured seven pythons that first year, and the average has been a half dozen each roundup since.

Monday's daylong hunt in 80-degree weather produced a record nine pythons (it was a mild winter), two large snapping turtles and a crested anole, all still a bit groggy from their winter brumation.

All the lake's unwanted ectothermic critters were moved to Holland Bottoms State Wildlife Management Area between Jacksonville and Cabot. It's sparsely populated, but anglers on Pickthorne Lake are advised to keep an eye out.

Until next time, Kalaka reminds you that you don't have to outrun a Myanmarese python, you just have to outrun the guy running next to you.

Disclaimer

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Z humorous fabrication X

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