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Threats to the Boelen's Python (By MARK O'shea)

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Threats to the Boelen's Python (By MARK O'shea) 80 Threars ro rhe Boelen's pyrhon (by Mark O 'Shea) Threats ro the Boelen's pyrh on (by Ma rk O 'Shea) 81 Threats to the Boelen's python (by MARK O'SHEA) T he threars to snakes in general, and pyrh ons in particular, are many and far ranging. Run over on roads, bush-knifed in garden s, hunred for meat or skins, killed out of prejudice or because of rnisraken identiry, subjecred ro lose of habitar through road­ building, slash and burn, rnining, forestry o r orher activiries, all faeror s rhar can con­ rribute the demise of a species, eirher locally or cornpl erely. Being proteered by laws, inrernarional, nation al, provincial 0 1' local , does not always pr evenr this problem. Mainl and New G uinea (Papua New Guinea, and rhe Papua and Wes t Papua Provinces ofIndonesia) po ssesses an impressive artay of pyrhon species amounting ro 13 species, wirh add itional spe cies occurring in a rchipelagos ro north, eas r, west and sou rhwesr, M ost of these pythons are eirher lowland coastal spec ies (Antaresia rnacu­ losa, Morelia spilota, Leiopython albertisii, Liasisfitscus) or spec ies wich island-wide dis­ triburi ons (Morelia amethistinn, M .viridis, Apodora papuana). Only rhe Boelen's pyr ho n (M. boelenz) can be said tO dernonsrrare a truly montane distribution above 1000m, absenr from lowland, coastal habi tars. T his is irnporranr when consid ering rhe rhre ars ro exisren ce rhar these pyrh on s face as individuals and as a species. f ig. 82: Tap ini (Central Province, PNG) . M. O'SHEA My exp eriences, from eighr or nine visits ro New Guinea since 1986, all relare ro the easrern halfofth e island, Papua New Guinea. I shall th erefore try to confine my com­ menra ry ro PN G alrho ug h I am aware rhar rhe Indonesian side of rhe island has a thriving wild life trade wirh large numbers of collecrors and expo rte rs su pplying th e in­ ternationa l animal trade wich specim ens. Papua Ne w G uinea is not like rhat. Papua Ne w Guinea does not permit the exploitat ion ofits native wildlife for commercial rea­ so ns, with a few exceptions suc h as cro codile ski ns and pinned butterflies th at are seen as village indusrries. Death on th e Ro ads. Becom ing a road -kill is the way a great many pythons (and orher snakes) end th eir days. The nerwork of roads in PNG is increasing all rhe time and wh ilsr ir is still not possible ro d rive on good road s from the cap iral, Port Moresby, ro rhe provincial capi­ cal of an y of rhe neighbouring provin ces, there is an extensive road sysrem running up and down rhe coast of C enrral Province, and aseparare nerwork connecring rhe five Hi ghland provin ces ro rhe North Coasr High way th ar links Lae wirh Ma dang and Bog ia. In my time I have d riven man y of rhese roa ds, even been there as ehe roads we re Fig. 81: MARK O 'SHEA rrekking in Owen Sranleys, Tapini (Cenrral Province, PNG) in 1986. widened and tarrnac'ed, ofren removing snakes from th e coconut palm s being felied 82 Th rears ro rhe Boelen's pyrhon (by Mark O 'Shea) Th rears to rhe Boelen's pyrhon (by Mark O'Shea) 83 during rhe road-widening process. At nigh r, after rain , I have driven ehe roads out of 1996). I have seen dead pythons of rnosr mainland species on rhe roads of PNG Port Moresby and M adang on more occasions rhan I co uld coun t and caught up to (A. papuana, M. amethistina, M. spilota, M. uiridis, L. albertisii, L. hoserae) but I have rhree python species a nighr , bur rhat was then , and rhis is now, These roads pr ovid e yer ro see a Boelen's pyrho n in such a situation. very few live pyrh on s, and in truth very few dead ones eieher. Over time most of th e And I don'r expec t ro eirher, Few if any roads currently traverse Boelen's pyrho n pyth on s venturing onro th e black-rop and rem aining a litrle too long, have been run habi rats, and those rhat d o are typically wh at would best be called 'comp any roads'. over, eirher deliberately or accidemally on purpose. I have seen PMV (public rnot or T his is not really wha r chey are called but I have coined th e term for those high quali­ vehi cle) minibuses swerve across th e road in rhe outskirts of Moresby, at grear risk to ty and we il maimained roads co nstructed by ehe m ining, oil an d timber companies in rhe passengers, just to kill a carpe t pytho n. rheir geograp hical areas of inrerest, many of which are locared in Boelen's pyrho n T he settlernen ts growing up along ehe roads have also been responsible for th c country in ehe H ighlands provinces. Access to rhese roads is resniered to aurho rised dernise ofany snakes found whilsr cutring th e grass along rhe road verges, around th c vehicles and aurho rised drivers and they are reach ed only by passing rh rou gh securiry hou ses or during garden ing in rhe proliferatio n of agriculrural allo rments th at eat their gates. Thereafrer chey may stretch for m any miles th rough pr istine rainforest. M ost are way inro th e surro und ing bush. Closer examina no n of road- killed snak es th ese days, not black-top but wide gravel roads bur because rhey are subjecred to occasio nal but whether pyrh on s, brown treesnake (Boiga irrcgularis) or raipan (Oxyuranus scutellatusi heavy vehicular rraffic, th ey are re-graded on a regul ar basis and could be rhe cause of will ofren expose a ligarure around ehe sna ke's neck or a spear-wound to rhe bod y. pyrhon deaths if ir were not for compa ny imposed speed- lirnirs and regulat ions pro­ These sna kes have been killed somew he re else and rhr own onto th e road . Sornetirnes recrin g wildlife (bur I shall return to rhis later). There is a hu ge difference in quality be­ rhe dead sna kes are thrown over releph one cables in rhe same way schoolboys rhrow a rw een o il explorarion co mpa ny road s, behind chec k-po in rs, and rhe ope n-access roads rival's pair of rrainets our of reach . Large pythons are srunned and dragged onro rhe used by rhe oil palm industr y. road ro be warched being run over, somerhing I rerm ed "T he Snake Ga me" (O'SHEA T he Conflicr berween C on servarion and Tr adition. T he Boelen's pytho n is rhe only fully proteered rept ile in Pap ua New G uinea, it is af­ forded ehe same prot ect ion as th e Birds-o f-Paradi se (Paradisaeidae), bur what does th at mean ? Internationally it mean s rhe pyrh on cannot be expo rred from Papu a N ew G uinea, bur since this regul ation is linie different from th ose pro tecting all C IT ES protected rep­ tiles ie. other py rho ns, boas and moniror lizard s, ir does not seem to afford th e Boelen's pyth on any special sratus. Domestically ir means the Boelen's python may not be collected from th e wild, killed , or possessed in cap rivity by a non-National, someone not bo rn 0 1' naturalised as a Papu a New G uinean. This naturally applies ro any derivatives of rhe python such as irs skin, bur technically a foreigner in is in breach of rhe law if he/she is in possession of a slo ugh or, for wha rever reason, a scat from a Boelen's pyth on. T his law also applies ro othe r spec ies ro a lesser degree. The first (Wo peo ple to take PNG nation alisation following Independence in 1975 were Austra lian croco dile hunters with lucrative busi­ nesses in the Fly and Kikori River systems. Some years ago, rhere was a large pair of Boelen's pyt hons in rhe N arion al Museum live collection. The sto ry goes that the y origin ated from a foreign er's a cc emp t to smug­ Fig. 83: Road kill is nor a major rhrear for MoreLia boeLeni due ro rhe low number of roads gle them overseas. The aurho rities in Port Moresby knew of his plans ro take the in irs range (rhe phoro shows a specimen of Apodorapapuana in Morobe Province, PNG, snakes, the 'jungle drums' had informed them w eil in adva nce, and they were wai ting. dragged onro rhe road ro be run over). M. O 'SHEA At th e airport th e snakes were seized and the sm uggler ar rested , pendi ng a fine and de­ 84 Threars to rhe Boelen's pyrho n (by M ark O'Shea) T hreats ro rhe Boelen's pytho n (by Mark O 'Shea) 85 rarely (but not never) worn in batrle rhey are du sted off and patched up for eheannu­ al sing-sings when d an s co mpete wirh one ano ther for artennon.
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