Anyone who is up for a slippery challenge can win a nice pile of cash hunting for escaped Burmese pythons in Florida. The snakes are not native to the state; instead they are escaped house pets that have bred in the wild, and they’re a threat to indigenous snakes and other animals.
That’s why the Sunshine State hosts the annual Florida Python Challenge. The event aims to get rid of as many of the huge snakes as possible while raising public awareness of the danger these pet reptiles pose to the natural environment.
The results this year are in, and the grand prize of $10,000 went to Ronald Kiger. The man bagged a total of 20 Burmese pythons undulating around in the famous Everglades. The hunt lasts for ten days.
Kiger’s grand prize was $10,000. He almost grabbed it last year, but was only the runner-up.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission held an event to award the prize money on September 17 in Duck Key. Overall, more than 800 people took part in the hunt, converging on Florida from 33 other states and Canada. All told the snake hunters captured 195 of the pythons.
After the winner gets his $10,000 prize, the rest of the pot is divided among the other other contestants. There are three main categories of competition: professional, military, and novice.
Snake hunter Donna Kalil nearly beat Kiger; she captured 19 snakes to his 20. Kalil works for the South Florida Water Management District and went home with $2,500 in prize money awarded in the professional competition. Marcos Rodriguez, with 16 catches, won $1,500 as a professional. In the same category, Quentin Archie walked away with $1,000 for catching the biggest snake in the division, measuring 8 feet and eleven inches.
The hunt takes place in the middle of August, and snake-catchers are required to humanely kill their catch and turn the carcasses in to any of three checking stations.
While the prize money pool of $25,000 is a large part of the draw that brings in the hunters, Florida is more interested in what publicity about the event can do for public awareness. The Burmese pythons are not only a threat to native snake species, but they can spread diseases to other animals.
Since 2017, the challenge has resulted in 14,000 of the snakes being removed from the natural environment, according to Rodney Barreto, chairman of the fish and wildlife commission.
