A hunter of python snakes from Florida caught a specimen of 17 feet and one inch – more than five meters – in the Everglades near Fort Lauderdale last week, and the shocking moment the capture was caught on camera.
Matthew Kogoa Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) trapper, found the snake at the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area.
One of the videos shows Kogo holding the python’s head firmly as it writhes.
On his social media, the expert hunter explains how he makes the huge snake tire out, and how he avoids danger. “You have to let it work. As my Brazilian jiu-jitsu friends say, I have to let them work,” he says jokingly.
“See how I change hands?” she says to the person filming the unusual scene. “That way I don’t get tired, letting the snake get tired. See? This is a good girl.”
In other reelKogo is shown sitting on the ground with the reptile coiled around his legs. As he recovers from his “fight” with the animal and catches his breath, he recommends: “Spend some time with a snake before you catch it and take it out of the clearing. It’s quality time.”
Experts cited by the television channel WBBHaffiliate of NBCconsider that it is no coincidence that the python capture occurred during hurricane season, as “higher temperatures, constant rains and humidity can make invasive snakes more visible in more residential areas.”
“Pythons and other snakes are exothermic, so they prefer to be active when it’s warm and humid. They’re tropical snakes,” said Dr. Andrew Durso, a wildlife biologist and professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.
The Burmese python snake is a constrictor speciesoriginally from the Indomalayan region in Asia, and is believed to have been introduced into Florida by people who kept them as pets and, due to their extraordinary growth, released them into Everglades National Park, creating a problem for native species.
The invasive pythons They can reach eight meters in length and wreak havoc on the native wildlife of that South Florida ecosystem, even going so far as to devour alligatorsThey have reduced some mammal populations by as much as 90%, according to FWC. They have no natural predators in the Everglades.
That’s why every year Florida holds a competition to remove this invasive species from the Everglades. Florida Python Challenge 2024 will take place from August 9 to 18.
In November 2023, a group of Python hunters caught the second largest snake ever captured in Florida in the Everglades of which there are records. It measured 17 feet and two inches, weighed 198 pounds, and took five men to control it.
