The winners of the 2023 Florida Python Challenge were announced on Friday by Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez.
This year the contest had over 1,000 participants from 35 states, and the country of Belgium joined in on the hunt, and were able to eradicate 209 Burmese Pythons from South Florida, according to the South Florida Water Management District website.
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The 10-day competition was created by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with the hopes of increasing awareness about the invasive species and how dangerous they are to the state’s eco-system.
Burmese Pythons, as their name state, are not native to Florida and they live mostly within the protected Everglades region where they prey on birds, reptiles, and mammals, says the FWC.
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Female pythons are capable of laying 50 to 100 eggs at a time, the FWC adds.
The winner of the $10,000 grand prize came down to Paul Hobbs, who bagged 20 pythons. The runner up, earning a cool $7,500 was Ronald Kiger for 14 pythons. The winner of the military category was Justin Morgan, who removed seven pythons and earned $2,500.
