Hundreds of Everglades hunters net just 68 pythons

MIAMI: Hundreds of hunters spent a month combing Florida’s Everglades for Burmese pythons, in the end capturing and killing 68 of the slithery, invasive reptiles, organizers said Saturday. The longest was 14 feet and three inches, netting the hunter who brought it in a $ 1,000 prize. The Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also announced winners of two $ 1,500 prizes for the hunters who killed the most Burmese pythons, an invasive species seen as a threat to the wetlands’ eco-system.
The total take was 68 Burmese pythons, said Nick Wiley, the FWC’s executive director. “In our view, that number was an unprecedented number of samples that would help us answer questions about pythons and make us more effective on removing them from the system,” he said.
The snakes have rapidly reproduced since, and now outnumber native snakes. “Every python taken out of the system is a great benefit, and we know that it takes a significant investment of time to capture one python. As it does for any kind of hunting, it’s not always easy,” Wiley said.
As part of the campaign to combat the snakes, the WCC this year launched its first “Python Challenge,” a month-long hunt that ran from Jan. 10 to Feb. 10.