Strangers In Paradise

Invasive species are reshaping the world’s ecosystems, but who’s really to blame? Shane wrestles a python, hunts Hawaiian pigs, and gets sucker-punched by a carp to answer the question: in the Age of Humans, how does our species decide what belongs?

Donna Kalil is a professional bounty hunter. The scaly fugitives she tracks down in the Everglades grow to 18 feet long… and eat deer and alligators for supper. Shane joins Donna on a hunt to learn more about Burmese pythons. Brought to Florida as pets, many pythons were dumped into the swamp when they outgrew their owners.

Brought to Florida as pets, many Burmese pythons have found a perfect home in the Everglades, and they’re spreading fast. As the pythons gain ground, biologists are racing to understand them, hoping to find a weakness and stop the invasion.

Wild horses are an icon of the American West, but there are no native horses in the U.S. Those wild mustangs we idolize are European invaders. In Nevada, Shane observes a government “gather,” a dystopian round-up where helicopters chase panicked horses into pens to remove them from public lands. We spend millions of dollars a year managing horses, but we still can’t agree on whether they belong.