NAPLES, Florida: A team of biologists recently hauled in the heaviest Burmese python ever captured in Florida, officials said.
The female python weighed in at 215 pounds (98 kilograms), was nearly 18 feet long (5 meters) and had 122 developing eggs, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in a news release.
The team used radio transmitters transplanted in male “scout” snakes to study python movements, breeding behaviors and habitat use, said Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and environmental science project manager for the conservancy’s program.
“How do you find the needle in the haystack? You could use a magnet, and in a similar way our male scout snakes are attracted to the biggest females around,” Bartoszek said.
The team used a scout snake named Dionysus — or Dion for short — in an area of the western Everglades.
“We knew he was there for a reason, and the team found him with the largest female we have seen to date.”
Biologist Ian Easterling and intern Kyle Findley helped capture the female snake and haul it through the woods to the field truck.
A necropsy also found hoof cores in the snake’s digest system, meaning that an adult white-tailed deer was its last meal.
National Geographic documented the discovery, highlighting the continued impact of the invasive pythons, which are known for rapid reproduction and depletion of surrounding native wildlife.
Bartoszek said removal of female pythons plays a critical role in disrupting the breeding cycle.
“This is the wildlife issue of our time for southern Florida,” he said.
Since the conservancy’s python program began in 2013, they’ve removed over 1,000 pythons from approximately 100 square miles (25,900 hectares) in southwest Florida.
Over that stretch, necropsies have found dozens of white-tailed deer inside Burmese pythons. Data researchers at the University of Florida have documented 24 species of mammals, 47 species of birds and 2 reptile species from pythons’ stomachs.
Prior to the recent discovery, the largest female removed through the conservancy’s program weighed 185 pounds (84 kilograms) and was the heaviest python captured at the time in Florida, officials said.
The state’s python removal program runs for two weeks in August. Participants compete for prizes, including $2,500 for capturing the most pythons.
Last year’s challenge involved more than 600 people from 25 states.
Florida team hauls in 18-foot, 215-pound Burmese python
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Florida team hauls in 18-foot, 215-pound Burmese python
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Starbucks faces new hot spill lawsuit weeks after $50mn ruling
The negligence suit seeks unspecified general and special damages
LOS ANGELES: Starbucks was facing another lawsuit over a spilled hot drink Wednesday, just weeks after a court ordered the coffee giant to pay $50 million to a man who was injured by a cup of tea.
A lawsuit lodged in California claims Sabrina Michelle Hermes was seriously hurt when hot liquid tipped into her lap at a drive-through in Norwalk, near Los Angeles, two years ago.
The suit, filed at the city’s superior court, claims one of the cups in her order was not properly secured when it was handed to her, and the drink sloshed out onto her legs, a hip, a knee and her feet, causing severe injuries.
Starbucks “owed a duty to exercise reasonable care with respect to the preparation, handling and service of hot beverages so as to prevent them from spilling onto and injuring customers such as plaintiff,” the suit says.
The negligence suit seeks unspecified general and special damages, including reimbursement for past and future medical costs and lost earnings.
A spokesperson for Starbucks told AFP on Wednesday the company would be contesting the claim.
“We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks,” the spokesperson said.
“We are aware of Ms. Hermes’ claims and firmly believe they are without merit. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”
Last month a jury in Los Angeles ordered the firm to pay $50 million to delivery driver Michael Garcia, who suffered burns when a super-sized drink spilled in his lap at a drive-through.
Garcia’s lawyers claimed the server who handed him three large drinks in February 2020 did not push one of them into the cardboard cupholder properly.
Starbucks said at the time of the ruling that it would appeal the award, which it said was “excessive.”
A landmark legal ruling against McDonalds in New Mexico in 1994 established something of a precedent for Americans suing fast food companies when 79-year-old Stella Liebeck was awarded over $2.8 million after spilling hot coffee on herself.
Although the award was reduced on appeal, the case was often cited as an example of the need to reform US tort laws.
Slovakia allows culling 350 bears, riles conservationists
- Fico’s government has also declared a state of emergency in most Slovak districts over “undesirable” bear presence
- The Slovak parliament already eased the rules for bear culling in May 2024
BRATISLAVA: The Slovak government on Wednesday approved the shooting of 350 bears citing danger posed to people, a move conservationists slammed as unlawful.
The decision follows several bear attacks on people, including the discovery of the remains of a man in central Slovakia probably killed by a bear on Sunday.
“We can’t live in a country where people are afraid to go to the woods,” Prime Minister Robert Fico told reporters.
Fico’s government has also declared a state of emergency in most Slovak districts over “undesirable” bear presence.
The Slovak parliament already eased the rules for bear culling in May 2024, allowing exemptions from a ban in several districts.
But the country must follow an EU directive that allows culling only of problem bears damaging property or attacking people, and only if there is no other solution.
A total of 93 bears were shot in the EU member country of 5.4 million people in 2024, while 36 died in car accidents, the daily Dennik N said earlier.
But journalists from the Jan Kuciak Investigative Center said hunters probably never killed bears that had attacked people, based on a study of 50 cases from 2024.
Environment Minister Tomas Taraba said on Wednesday there were more than 1,300 bears in Slovakia, and that 800 was a “sufficient number,” as the population keeps growing.
But conservationists criticized the government, saying Wednesday’s decision was in violation of international obligations and that the environment ministry knowingly breached the law.
They called on the ministry to instead teach people how to stay safe in nature.
“Instead of ineffective solutions, we need to strengthen prevention — education, provision of garbage removal, regulation of baiting of game or informing the public about safe movement in nature,” the Aevis Foundation said on Facebook.
Oil, sand and speed: Saudi gearheads take on towering dunes
- Drivers modified their cars to improve performance months in advance
- For many dune bashing and desert drifting is a passion that began in adolescence
Az Zulfi — SAU
Az Zulfi, Saudi Arabia, April 2, 2025 : Wearing a helmet and strapped securely into his four-wheel-drive, Abdelilah Al-Rabea tore off across the Saudi desert, kicking up clouds of sand as a crowd of hundreds cheered him on.
Every year through the end of April, droves of people flock to Zulfi, more than 200 kilometers northwest of Riyadh, where adrenaline-seeking motorists drive superpowered cars across steep dunes.
Dune bashing, or tatees in Arabic, is an adventure sport that involves driving off-road across challenging desert landscapes, and has long been a popular pastime in the oil-rich kingdom.
“This is a popular sport in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf because we have these dunes,” Rabea said.
It requires “considerable effort,” he added, but the payoff is “a real rush of adrenaline.”
Abdallah Al-Amar, who came to watch the show with his son, said spectators were willing to “travel great distances” for the meets, flocking from all over the country to watch the drivers perform their stunts.
Saudi Arabia, as the world’s biggest oil exporter, enjoys bargain-basement gasoline prices, with a liter costing just 2.33 riyals ($0.62).
The cheap fuel, combined with prolonged periods of extreme heat, means cars reign supreme in the kingdom — further fueling a passion for motorsports.
Waiting all year
In Zulfi, hundreds of cars and pick-up trucks dotted the sands as far as the eye can see, while nearby a motorist raced up a 100-meter-tall dune.
“The cars you see here are specially equipped” for the challenge, Rabea told AFP.
Crowds made up almost exclusively of men looked on, drinking coffee and tea on carpets strewn on the sand.
Engines roared, crowds cheered and plumes of dust rose with every turn of the wheels.
“We wait for this moment all year. We optimize the engine, the car, every single detail,” Rabea said.
At the foot of the dune, modified cars and trucks with oversized tires and powerful engines were lined up, waiting to take on the dunes.
Their drivers were making final adjustments to the vehicles, preparing to defy gravity racing uphill at dizzying speed.
'Always loved the dunes'
For many, dune bashing and desert drifting is a passion that began in adolescence.
Badr Al-Ghamas, a 33-year-old man from Al-Qassim, began practicing the sport when he was only 15 years old.
“For some, sports means to play football or swimming. For us, it’s going dune bashing,” he said with a smile.
One experienced drifter, Ahmed Al-Rumi told AFP that drivers modified their cars to improve performance months in advance.
But the extreme sport is not without risk.
“A while ago, there was an accident because the car was not fully safe,” Rumi said, adding that no one was hurt.
Many of the drivers, however, brushed off the risk of accidents, citing safety precautions they take.
In his 2014 book “Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism, and Road Revolt,” researcher Pascal Menoret said this passion for speed and high-risk maneuvers was rooted in a desire to project an image of power and masculinity.
At sunset the drivers headed home, leaving behind splotches of oil on the sand and track marks scarring the dunes.
But Amar said the gas-guzzling sport was not necessarily in conflict with nature.
“I grew up on a farm and I’ve always loved the dunes,” he said.
“Now, I bring along my son who shares the same passion.”
Film ‘Warfare’ immerses viewers in real-time Iraq War mission
- “Warfare” sees the young men taking up positions in a residential building in the dark of night
LONDON: New A24 movie “Warfare” places audiences among a platoon of US Navy SEALs as they battle insurgents during the Iraq War.
Written and directed by combat veteran Ray Mendoza and filmmaker Alex Garland, the movie is a real-time re-enactment of a 2006 surveillance operation gone awry and based entirely on the memories of Mendoza and the soldiers who took part in it.
“Warfare” follows Garland’s 2024 film “Civil War,” which Mendoza worked on as a military supervisor, and features an ensemble cast of top talent including Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter, Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.
It pays tribute to wounded sniper Elliott Miller, played by Jarvis, whose recollections of the events are sparse.
“I wanted to make it for Elliott,” Mendoza said at the film’s London premiere on Tuesday. “He doesn’t recall what happened. Over the years he’s asked a lot of questions. I’ve been in this industry for 15 years now, and it’s kind of a goal, a journey, for me to acquire all the tools and skills I needed along the way to make it.”
The filmmakers set a rule to “not invent or heighten anything” and recount the events as accurately as possible.
“What films usually do is they find a way to dramatize, and that sometimes means romanticize combat and conflict and to be inaccurate. We tried to strip all of that out and present war in this instance, as it was. That was our sole intention,” Garland said.
“Warfare” sees the young men taking up positions in a residential building in the dark of night. It depicts their close bond and the chaos that ensues when they come under fire and try to evacuate wounded soldiers.
For the cast, portraying real people and recreating the events in Ramadi, came with responsibility.
“We had to try and do the story, what happened, justice and try to do these characters justice,” said Connor, who plays gunner Tommy.
“Warfare” was shot outside London over five weeks in early 2024. In preparation for its extended takes and carefully choreographed scenes, the cast took part in an intensive three-week boot camp.
“That included weapons handling, strategy, tactics, some of the language that is unique to SEALs and the military. We learned radio communications, first aid, some navigational stuff, and then went out on a few exercises as a team and put it into practice,” said Poulter, who plays an officer in charge of the operation.
Although immersing audiences in warfare, the movie is rooted in humanity, said Michael Gandolfini, who plays Lt. Macdonald.
“It’s about human beings and it’s about consequences of human beings doing these things to other humans. You walk out, I believe, feeling immense pain but immense humanity.”
“Warfare” begins its global theatrical rollout on April 10.
A fire at a New York cat sanctuary kills its founder and dozens of cats
- The body of founder Christopher Arsenault, 65, was found in a back room, officials said
- An estimated 150 cats are believed to have survived at the facility
NEW YORK: A fire burned down a Long Island cat shelter, killing its founder, who lived there, and at least 59 of the felines he rescued, authorities said.
The fire at the Happy Cat Sanctuary in the hamlet of Medford was reported shortly after 7 a.m. Monday. The cause is under investigation.
The body of founder Christopher Arsenault, 65, was found in a back room, officials said.
“He appeared to be a very caring person,” said Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County SPCA. “His life was about the cats.”
An estimated 150 cats are believed to have survived at the facility, which also included outdoor buildings, Gross said. Some of the surviving animals suffered burns and smoke inhalation. The SPCA and other animal rescue groups were working together to arrange care for them.
Arsenault founded Happy Cat in 2006 after the death of his 24-year-old son, Eric, in a motorcycle accident, according to the sanctuary’s website. Arsenault described finding his calling when he came across a colony of 30 sick kittens and nursed them back to health.
At the time of the fire, he was planning to move the sanctuary from Long Island to a farm upstate, Gross said.
“Unfortunately, this disaster happened and now he’s gone,” Gross said. “Right now it’s in the early stages of trying to put all of this together to get these animals cared for.”
