By EFE
07 Nov 2023, 17:34 PM EST
An immense specimen of Burmese python measuring 17 feet long and weighing 198 pounds, the second heaviest of this invasive species officially captured in Florida, was hunted by a group of five men in the Big Cypress National Reserve last Friday, local media reported this Tuesday.
Mike Elfenbein, executive director of the Cypress chapter of the national conservation organization Izaak Walton League of America, decided to go python hunting last Friday and came across a giant specimen.
Elfenbein was driving with his son through the Big Cypress National Reserve (72 km west of Miami), late at night, when They saw the giant snake crossing the road.
“We ran into it at the same time as another vehicle coming in the opposite direction,” the hunter told Field & Stream.
According to Elfenbein, a trio of snake catchers from Tampa jumped out of the other car. One of them grabbed the giant snake by the tail before Elfenbein’s son jumped in to help.
“She didn’t like what was pulling on her, so she turned and climbed back onto his body at full speed. I ended up grabbing her head, which was like grabbing a soccer ball,” the hunter told the aforementioned media.
According to the story, Hunters found remains of a deer in the python’s stomach, including hooves and bones.
It is the second heaviest python ever officially captured in Florida.
The first was caught in June 2022 in southwest Florida, a 215-pound specimen.
Last August the great annual hunt for Burmese pythons began to rid the Everglades nature reserve (Florida) of some of these invasive reptiles, an event that had a purse of $30,000 in prizes for participants.
Created in 2013 and not without criticism, the initiative called Python Challenge is organized by the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD).
The FWC has removed more than 18,000 Burmese pythons from the Everglades since 2000. with initiatives like this and hired professional hunters who work all year round.
A female Burmese python lays between 50 and 100 eggs in each clutch, notes FWC.
The great wetland of the Everglades is a unique ecosystem in the world with a wide variety of native animals whose survival is threatened by the presence of Burmese pythons, large predators that arrived in the reserve several decades ago.
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