Tom Rahill captured 96 Burmese pythons to win Florida’s annual Python Challenge, earning the event’s $10,000 first prize, according to A-Z Animals.
The challenge is a conservation effort focused on nonnative Burmese pythons, which the event’s website says do not belong in Florida. It is intended to build awareness of invasive species while helping protect Everglades ecosystems and the wildlife that live there.
“Each python removed helps conserve the native wildlife that makes the Everglades so extraordinary,” Nick Wiley, director of the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida, told A-Z Animals.
The hunt takes place each July and includes designated public lands in and around the Everglades, including Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area, Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, Frog Pond Public Small Game Hunting Area, Holey Land Wildlife Management Area, Rocky Glades Public Small Game Hunting Area, Rotenberger Wildlife Management Area, and Southern Glades Wildlife and Environmental Area.
Python removal is not limited to the annual challenge. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission provides rules for year-round hunting of the invasive snakes.
