Thank you, arielg, for interjecting some actual knowledge into the discussion.   The word "sentient" has nothing to do with "touchy-feely".  It has a specific definition.

The adjective "sentient" and obviously the words it describes, such as "sentient being" are not general terms that are up to the individual to interpret for meaning.  They have specific definitions, and in fact, the adjective "sentient" can be found in medical dictionaries. 

Those who look at a python and immediately think of what a lovely pair of boots it skin would make for them, or such a pretty purse, instead of contemplating how and why they got there in the first place, aren't looking for solutions, so the Buddha's teachings would fall on deaf ears.

Of course, the ecosystem of the Florida Everglades is being changed for developers who want to build a bunch of condo's there, so I imagine the presence of the pythons make them feel enraged, too.

Catch them and relocate them, instead of killing them and then making $5000 boots for rich chicks like Kardashian.  And tax the residents of Florida for the recovery since they, as as state, allowed this to happen in the first place.

Thank you Ariel, for your explanation.  It does seem to me that there are differences of oppinion as to what the word means.  However sentient is not a word I would personally use. 

I tend to see a  hiearchy animals and I think the Buddhists and Hindus do that as well.  Dogs are pretty up near my top but pythons IMO are going to not rank very  highly.  I don't think for your average person from a traditional buddhist culture they are going to rank very highly either.  I am pretty sure they kill dangerous snakes in Thailand. 

Personally I am of the belief that some animals are made for consumption.  I can't say the python is one of those.  For me, it does not sit right to kill an animal just for its decorative purposes.  Your traditional livestock animals close to their entire body is used not just the hide. 

Regardless, I am pretty sure if Jesus or Buddha or even one of the more important Gurus were participating on this thread with us they would not appreciate using the guise of compassion for animals as the excuse to trash or insult other people.  That is sort of counter-productive to the whole charge of developing our compassion.  We are not developing any compassion here, we are developing a faux moral superiority. 

Jun 27, 2012 -- 2:44PM, mytmouse57 wrote:

The point is, mental masturbation goes only so far.  

Spirituality is "mental masturbation"???  

Jun 27, 2012 -- 2:44PM, mytmouse57 wrote:

And, frankly, your ideas don't refelct much knowledge of nature, or reality. Only strident ideology.

There is no lie, or wrong, in eliminating an invasive species in order to protect the integrity of an ecosystem. 

Well, if you are going to claim superior knowledge of nature (which you always do as if that is some sort of debating point), then you would have to admit that in nature, arielg is right, that there in no lie or wrong in pythons doing what they naturally do, even if it means outcompeting native species.  That is nature.  Nothing ideological about it. Nothing strident about it.  It is what it is. 

Reality, as you put it, is another thing.   And  kill them and make purses out of them is ideology, not nature.  Strident ideology, based apparently on money

If Floridians wanted to save the Everglades land space for condo's and shopping centers, they shouldn't have allowed irresponsible people to "own" pythons or any other exotic species, and not care for them properly.  Now they can live with what Nature wrougt.

Jun 27, 2012 -- 2:44PM, mytmouse57 wrote:

Nothing "knee-jerk" about it. Just pragmatism. 

It is your knee-jerk ideology which is based on killing and death that leads you to claim that the only solution to a Nature "problem" is to kill the ones you don't like and make $5000 boots out of them for fakes like Kardashian.

Jun 27, 2012 -- 4:06PM, mytmouse57 wrote:

Past that, if you're suggesting that the good folks of Florida simply sit on their arse and let nature take its course, so to speak, because some poor, sensitive souls might agonize over a snake being killed -- then I'd have to say.. well, good luck.

No, I already said what the folks of Florida should do, and that I think the whole thing is a man-made tragedy.  I also said whose skins should be used to make decorations for Kim Kardashian's body, there's nothing poor and sensitive in the soul about that.

I don't think it is feisable to capture and house unwanted pythons. The peoeple of the.  Amazon would resent the hell out of a bunch of pythons put back into the environment even if the python is native there .   We have this long thread about how wicked people are for wearing python skin even though pythons are largely unwanted.

The fact is every year 5 million healthy (not sick) cats and dogs are euthanized because there are not homes for them.  Personally that is my concern.  I would gladly crank out more python boots if the proceeds could be used to cover the costs for housing healthy cats and dogs.