Eat a python, save the planet

These foreign snakes are consuming the Everglades. Could putting them on our plates help climate change?

- ASHLEY MIZNAZI

An Australian study focusing on climate-friendly sustainable protein sources found snake to be an alternative to beef or pork.

The voracious Burmese python has done widespread damage to the Everglades food chain, pretty much wiping out populations of small mammals like marsh bunnies and gulping down everything from birds to alligators.

But a new study out of Australia suggests a paradoxical prospect: Florida’s most destructive invasive species also could help protect the planet from the looming impacts of climate change — at least theoretically.

Underline that last word. Because there is a catch. Many catches, actually. For starters, we’d have to eat them, lots of them. The thousands that get pulled out of the Glades every year by hunters would not be nearly enough. We’d need to raise python as livestock and — clearly the No. 1 hurdle — learn to eat snake instead of beef or pork. Pythonburger, anyone?

There are several reasons, according to the study, that would make Burmese pythons a climate-friendly food option. Scientists found they are incredibly efficient at converting small amounts of food into large amounts of high-protein, lowfat weight gain. Also important, cattle burps, farts and poops are huge sources of methane, making up an estimated 45 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions of the U.S. agriculture industry. Pythons poop every few days to even weeks, and if they do pass gas, it’s much, much less.

So while snake farms supplanting cattle ranches across Florida may seem far-fetched, lead study author Daniel Natusch finds the prospect of commercial python production intriguing.