Overview

• Forty solar-powered robotic rabbit decoys were deployed across South Florida in July as part of the Python Elimination Program funded by the South Florida Water Management District.
• The remote-controlled devices generate heat, motion and scent cues that imitate marsh rabbits and use onboard cameras to detect approaching pythons.
• When a python is identified, the system sends alerts to snake wranglers who capture and humanely euthanize the snakes under program protocols.
• The initiative is a collaboration between the South Florida Water Management District, the University of Florida and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
• With detectability rates of just 1–3%, Burmese pythons have eluded traditional search methods and contributed to drastic declines in small mammals and birds across the Everglades.