[sho]

> Have any evidence such a program has ever existed?

It was an argumentum ad absurdum to demonstrate that with sufficient disincentives to cheating, the "Cobra Effect" might be effectively countered - in reply to your questionable claim that any and all bounty program "is known" to not work, as if that's some sort of law of physics.

I'm not familiar with the failed python and fish programs you mention, but I'll take your word for it that they were implemented so incompetently and supervised so inadequately that fraudulent breeding for profit took place. That said, I'd believe almost anything about Southern Florida and perhaps you're right that it's not the ideal place for a government program requiring tight control and a deft touch.

Having read the article - there's only 200 monkeys and they're all pretty localized to one place - I don't see the problem with the government simply doing it themselves, so I agree somewhat, but still take issue with your generalizations. Bounty programs are known to be unworkable, in South Florida, with snakes and fish. That's it. Oh, and in possibly-apocryphal British India.

[dahdum]

I don’t see why a bounty wouldn’t work in this case either. Certainly would cost more than $50 to raise a monkey to kill for bounty, when the entire bounty pool would be barely $20k.

I doubt you need to even give a bounty though, just open them for hunting. Better yet give out a commemorative plaque.

[will_brown]

Ah yes the old “it’s not a Law of physics arguement”, clearly that is the fairest interpretation of my comment and the verbiage “known to”. After all “Known to” is only “known to” be used as an absolute in the sense of the laws of physics. That is quite the self-defining circular logic when I think about it.

Obviously your make believe hypothetical implementation of a bounty program backed by breeding and release crimes punishable by life imprionsment, render my statement false because I said “known to”, whereas bounty programs in fact are not “known to” increase invasive species and result in failure - despite the only three real world examples used (two of which were in the same state). You are right it is not a law of physics, thus rendering any point moot based on your hypothetical, whereas $50 bounty programs per animal backed by life inprisonment crimes are “known to” succeed when the animal is in central Florida and is a monkey.