Registration is officially open today for a tradition mean to spread awareness about a major threat to the Everglades. NBC6’s Julia Bagg reports.
The Florida Python Challenge 2023 is officially taking applicants.
Florida holds the annual competition to remove the invasive species from the Everglades.
Professional and novice hunters can compete for more than $30,000 dollars in total prize money.
The top individual prize is $10,000 for the most pythons captured.
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Florida wildlife officials said 1,000 hunters from 32 states and as far away as Canada and Latvia removed 231 Burmese pythons during the 10-day competition last year.
Capturing the snakes can get dicey.
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"Use a buddy system,” recommended Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Nonnative Programming Coordinator McKayla Spencer, who demonstrated how to capture a python with a snake stick.
The goal of the challenge is to spread awareness of the invasive species. FWC officials note it is not known how many pythons are in the Everglades, but they were first spotted as early as 1979, and thought to have been introduced to South Florida as pets.
They are known to wreak havoc on native wildlife, even devouring alligators. Pythons have no natural predators in the Everglades.
The python challenge lasts ten days, kicking of on August 4th.
Learn more at myFWC.com/python.
