Once again, registration has opened for the Florida Python Challenge, in which participants compete in the Everglades to remove the invasive Burmese pythons to win a cash prize.
The annual python removal competition first began in 2013, and thousands of pythons have been killed since then.
Pythons are native to Southeast Asia but were first spotted in Florida in the late 1970s.
Pythons have invaded the Everglades area and have no natural predators.
They eat small mammals and rabbits and scientists believe there could be up to 300,000 snakes in the Everglades.
They have been blamed for the lack of mammals in the Everglades and have wiped out populations of rabbits, foxes, and deer in the area.
The state’s previous methods for catching the snakes included traps and poisoned prey, but now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) pays hunters in exchange for caught snakes.
This article by Hailey Kanowsky was first published by OneGreenPLanet on 2
7 May 2023.
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