Florida’s new python-sniffing dogs have 1st success

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is now using trained dogs to sniff out troublesome pythons. Truman is a python-hunting black Labrador retriever that recently tracked down his first snake as part of a new Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission program. Truman and another dog named Eleanor are trained to detect a python’s scent and alert handlers when they’ve come across one. The first success was last week when Truman found an 8-foot Burmese python in the Rocky Glades Public Small Game Hunting Area in Miami-Dade County. The pythons have become a threat to the fragile ecosystem in the Florida Everglades as they devour native mammals and birds.