WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — They look, move and even smell like the kind of furry Everglades marsh rabbit a Burmese python would love to eat. But these bunnies are robots meant to lure the giant invasive snakes out of their hiding spots.
It's the latest effort by the South Florida Water Management District to eliminate as many pythons as possible from the Everglades, where they are decimating native species with their voracious appetites. In Everglades National Park, officials say the snakes have eliminated 95% of small mammals as well as thousands of birds.
“Removing them is fairly simple. It's detection. We're having a really hard time finding them,” said Mike Kirkland, lead invasive animal biologist for the water district. “They're so well camouflaged in the field.”
The water district and University of Florida researchers deployed 120 robot rabbits this summer as an experiment. Previously, there was an effort to use live rabbits as snake lures but that became too expensive and time-consuming, Kirkland said.
The robots are simple toy rabbits, but retrofitted to emit heat, a smell and to make natural movements to appear like any other regular rabbit. “They look like a real rabbit,” Kirkland said.. They are solar powered and can be switched on and off remotely. They are placed in small pens monitored by a video camera that sends out a signal when a python is nearby.
“Then I can deploy one of our many contractors to go out and remove the python,” Kirkland said.
The total cost per robot rabbit is about $4,000, financed by the water district, he added.
Pythons are not native to Florida, but have become established in the swampy, subtropical Everglades by escaping from homes or by people releasing them when they become overgrown pets. A female python can lay between 50 and 100 eggs at a time with a gestation period of 60-90 days, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
It's not easy to find definite estimates of the number of pythons in Florida. The U.S. Geological Survey recently reported a ballpark number of “tens of thousands,” while other official estimates run as high as 300,000 snakes. They have few natural enemies, although there are occasional confrontations with alligators, and other predators, such as bobcats and coyotes, will eat their eggs.
Since 2000, more than 23,000 of the snakes have been removed from the wild, the wildlife commission says. The robot rabbits are the latest attempt to tackle snakes that average between 10 and 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) in length when fully grown.
“Every invasive python that is removed makes a difference for Florida's environment and its native wildlife,” said Ron Bergeron, a member of the water district governing board.
Pythons can be humanely killed year-round on private lands and on lands managed by the wildlife commission across the state.
Each year the commission holds a “Florida Python Challenge” that carries cash prizes for most pythons caught, the longest snake and so forth. This year, 934 people from 30 states took part in the effort in July, capturing 294 pythons with a top prize of $10,000 to a participant who bagged 60 of the reptiles.
It's too early to determine how successful the robot rabbit project will be, but officials say initial results are a cause for optimism.
“This part of the project is in its infancy,” Kirkland said. “We are confident, though, that this will work once we are given enough time to work out some of these details.”
Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.
This undated photo provided by the South Florida Water Management District shows a robotic rabbit in the Florida Everglades. Officials in Florida are experimenting with ways to capture invasive Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades using robotic rabbits. (South Florida Water Management District via AP)
FILE - A Burmese python is held during a safe capture demonstration on June 16, 2022, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tony Clark intends to resign as head of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a person familiar with the union’s deliberations said Tuesday.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because his decision, first reported by ESPN, had not been announced.
Clark’s decision took place during an investigation by the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, into OneTeam Partners, a licensing company founded by the union, the NFL Players Association and RedBird Capital Partners in 2019.
“A lot of people have known that the investigation has been going on,” said the New York Mets' Marcus Semien, a member of the union's eight-man executive subcommittee. “I think that this happening during the investigation is not like, as a subcommittee, is not like overly surprising, but it still hurts and it's still something I'm processing.”
The union's executive board met Tuesday and did not make any decisions about a successor, a person familiar with the session told the AP, also on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.
Deputy executive director Bruce Meyer is set to be the primary negotiator in the upcoming labor talks, as he was in 2021-22. After Clark and Rick Shapiro led the 2016 negotiations, Meyer was hired in August 2018 as senior director of collective bargaining and legal and was promoted to his current role in July 2022.
Semien believes Clark is leaving to deal with the probe.
“I think so," he said, "because up to this point, before any investigations, I’ve had the ultimate confidence in Tony Clark to lead this player group. I've had the ultimate confidence in Bruce Meyer to be the lead negotiator for this player group.”
The decision was made ahead of an expected start of collective bargaining in April for an agreement to replace the five-year labor contract that expires Dec. 1. Management appears on track to propose a salary cap, which possibly could lead to a work stoppage that causes regular-season games to be canceled for the first time since 1995.
Adam L. Braverman, a former U.S. associate deputy attorney general and U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, was hired by the union's executive subcommittee as outside counsel, two people familiar with the group's action told the AP. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the union hadn't announced that.
The union on Monday canceled Tuesday’s scheduled start of the staff’s annual tour of the 30 spring training camps, which was to have begun with the Cleveland Guardians in the morning and the Chicago White Sox in the afternoon.
Clark, 53, is a former All-Star first baseman who became the first player to head the union.
He played from 1995-2009, becoming a union leader shortly after going to his first executive board meeting in 1999.
Clark was hired as the union's director of player relations in 2010 and was promoted to deputy executive director in July 2013, when union head Michael Weiner's health declined because of a brain tumor. Weiner died that November and Clark was elevated to executive director, following Marvin Miller, Kenneth Moffett, Donald Fehr and Wiener as union head.
Clark led players through negotiations that led to an agreement in December 2016, about 3 1/2 hours before the prior deal was set to expire, and another in March 2022 after a 99-day lockout.
Meyer, 64, spent 30 years at Weil, Gotshal & Manges before joining the NHL Players Association in 2016 as senior director of collective bargaining, policy and legal.
Three members of the subcommittee, Jack Flaherty, Lucas Giolito and Ian Happ, were among the players who in March 2024 advocated for the ouster of Meyer in an effort led by former union lawyer Harry Marino. Clark backed Meyer, the effort failed and those three players were dropped off the subcommittee that December.
The subcommittee voted 8-0 against approving the 2022 labor contract and Meyer had advocated pushing management for a deal more favorable to the union. Team player representatives, the overall group supervising negotiations, voted 26-4 in favor, leaving the overall ballot at 26-12 for ratification.
In addition to Semien, the current subcommittee includes Chris Bassitt, Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Cedric Mullins, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Brent Suter.
OneTeam says since its formation that it added, among others, the players' associations of the WNBA, MLS, NWSL and the U.S. women's soccer national team. RedBird sold its stake in 2019 to HPS Investment Partners, Atlantic Park Strategic Capital Fund and Morgan Stanley Tactical Value.
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FILE - Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark answers a question during a news conference in New York on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
