A Burmese python is captured during a safety capture demonstration during the 2022 Florida Python Challenge media event in Miami on June 16, 2022.
Lynne Slutkey/AP
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Lynne Slutkey/AP
This time of year, Florida officials allow amateur and professional snake hunters to fan out across parts of the Everglades to carry out as many Burmese python hunting missions as possible.
The annual Florida Python Challenge began last Friday and runs until 5 p.m. next Sunday, during which participants must capture and kill non-venomous pythons that feed on the state’s native fauna.
“Removing invasive pythons from the Everglades ecosystem is critical and we must do everything we can to combat this invasive species,” said South Florida Water Management District Stewardship Council member Ron Bergeron. explain in a statement.
Burmese python are popular pets They were seen in Florida in the late 1970s and 1980s, but some owners began releasing them into the wild as early as 1979, and the state explain.
Tan and brown snakes have established a foothold in South Florida, particularly in Miami-Dade, Collier and Monroe counties, where they are beginning to have an impact on the local environment.
The average size of a Burmese python is 6-9 feet sometimes longerfew natural enemies. But they are known to prey on prey as large as alligators and deer, as small as wood rats and spoonbills, including threatened and endangered species. They may also contain parasites that can kill Florida’s native snakes.
Carlos Hernandez, 23, during a snake catching safety training at Everglades Holiday Park in Broward County on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, the first day of the Florida Python Challenge. Hernandez and two Florida Wildlife Commission coordinators captured a snake for the first time in Florida.
Stephanie Mattat/AP/Associated Press
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Stephanie Mattat/AP/Associated Press
The species also has “high reproductive potential,” with female Burmese pythons capable of laying 50 to 100 eggs per year, the state said.
More than 600 Florida Python Challenge participants will have a chance to win a $10,000 grand prize for removing the most pythons during the 10-day competition. Other cash prizes will be awarded to the person who removes the most snakes and removes the longest python in the novice, professional and military categories.
state officials explain To date, 917 Burmese pythons have been removed through the annual competition, which has been running for at least a decade now, including 209 snakes last year.
