The most recent edition of the monthly newsletter of Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife includes this story:
Game Wardens Cody Lounder, Eric Blanchard, Deputy Warden Harry Wiegman, and Sargeant Tim Spahr seized four illegally possesses snakes from an apartment in Biddeford. One snake, an Albino Burmese Python, is illegal in Maine and on the Federal restricted species list. This snake weighed 80 pounds and was 11 feet long.
Yikes!
The newsletter includes other interesting stories, including an investigation into the shooting of three moose near Canada Falls Lake. There are stories on the department’s ongoing (and often futile) effort to rid Maine waters of illegally stocked gold fish, on trap netting at Rangeley Lake, and on the agency’s program to reduce coyote populations in key areas.
Of most interest to me was a story on the capture and use of Nesowadnehunk Lake native brook trout to produce hatchery trout for stocking in waters around the state, especially in Baxter Park. My camp is on Nesowadnehunk Lake, so I have an intense interest in this project. They tried to use trout from our lake in the past, but found that they wouldn’t eat in a hatchery environment. Apparently they’re doing better now. At least according to this report.
You can read the entire newsletter here.