Walking with the Alligators

Walking with the Alligators
A Florida Alligator

March 12, 2012

To Keep Hydrilla, or Not, That is the Question~

Lake Toho is engaged in a multisided battle with a plant,
some fishermen and some duck hunters.     
A male Florida Snail Kite
A Florida Snail Kite
The plant is Hydrilla and it was introduced into the lake
many years ago, for what purpose, is not exactly clear to me.
The plant has spread and taken over every place that it touches,
like most weeds do.
Enter the Everglades Snail Kite, the key word here is Everglades Snail Kite.
This beleaguered bird was driven from its ancestral Everglades home by human greed and has just recently fairly successfully taken root in Lake Toho.
The kite's primary food is a snail that loves the Hydrilla, so the snail has food and
the kite has food, problem solved.
But wait........
The recreational people mentioned above, who use Lake Toho are now going head to head
and nose to nose over just how much Hydrilla should be allowed to remain in the Lake.
Each group has their own opinion and legal forces to speak for them, all that is, except for
the Everglades Snail Kite, who was just about to be come the Toho Snail Kite.
This bird has been pushed and shoved to accommodate selfish, self centered groups who
care nothing about it or its ultimate fate.
All that each of these groups want to know is, "will I get what I want?"
Who will speak for the Kite?
This very well written story gives a clear history of all involved.

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