A scaly challenge like none other

Michael Kirkland holding a python. FWC / COURTESY PHOTO

Novice and professional snake hunters will soon muster their resolve and trek intrepidly, or perhaps with trepidation, into the wilds of Florida to seek a slithery predator that eats everything in its path.

The 2024 Florida Python Challenge will be held for 10 days starting Aug. 9 and continue through Aug. 18. Registration is open now through the first day of the hunt.

The annual challenge is a partnership between the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to remove as many invasive Burmese pythons as possible. The voracious snake has eaten countless birds and an estimated 90 percent of the mammals in the Everglades, researchers say. Deer and even large alligators are among its meals.

No one knows exactly how many pythons are out there. Estimates from scientists and researchers range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. There is no predator to stop them.

The challenge captured 209 pythons last year and a total of 917 since the hunt began.

Donna Kalil with captured python DONNA KALIL / COURTESY PHOTO

So why hold an annual hunt that captures less than a drop in the bucket as compared to the proliferating python army out there?

The numbers of pythons captured is not the point, wildlife officials say. It’s making people aware of the threat.

“Because Burmese pythons have negative impacts on Florida’s ecosystems through depredation of native wildlife and introduction of novel disease and parasites, raising awareness about this important conservation issue is a high priority,” said McKayla Spencer, the FWC’s nonnative fish and wildlife program coordinator.

“It is as much to engage the public as to remove as many pythons as possible,” said Michael Kirkland, senior invasive animal biologist at the land resources bureau of the South Florida Water Management District. “Most of all, it’s an outreach event. It has a worldwide audience.”

The publicity the hunt brings to the plight of an ecosystem plundered by pythons helps keep the support going. Plus, there’s money involved for the most successful hunters.

Python FWC / COURTESY PHOTO

Participants this year will have the chance to win a share of more than $25,000 in prizes for removing the invasive species from the wild. Prizes will also be awarded in the professional, novice and military categories.

In 2023, the ultimate grand prize winner removed 20 Burmese pythons, taking home a tidy $10,000.

Donna Kalil, a contract python hunter for the South Florida Water Management District, has captured more than 700 pythons through the years. She will be participating in the challenge, as she has every year. The challenge is useful because it gives people an up-close look at what it takes to capture a python, she said. People keep saying, “If there’s tens of thousands, why doesn’t everybody just come out and catch them all,” she said. “Well, come on out and try.”

It’s hatchling season now, and Kalil caught nine pythons on July 9, the longest at 7.5 feet and seven pythons on July 14.

To register, would-be hunters must first complete the required online training, which includes how to kill pythons humanely, as required by law. They may also view optional training opportunities, learn more about Burmese pythons and the Everglades ecosystem, or find resources for planning a trip to South Florida to participate.

So far, 390 people have registered for the 2024 challenge, with 365 out of them coming from Florida, said Lisa Thompson, a spokesman with the FWC Division of Habitat and Species Conservation. The numbers will grow as they get closer to the competition, she said.

There are no registrants from outside the U.S. this year, as yet. In 2023, there were 1,050 participants from 35 states and Belgium. In 2022, international participants came from Canada, and one from Latvia.

If you would like to earn money capturing pythons year-round, there are two programs that will pay you to remove pythons as a contractor.

South Florida Water Management’s Python Elimination Program has the capacity for 50 python removal contractors, as does the FWC with its Python Action Team Removing Invasive Constrictors program, or PATRIC. Both programs began in 2017 and have resulted in more than 14,000 pythons captured and eliminated, Kirkland said.

Both programs pay python contractors $13 per hour, $18 per hour or $30 per hour, depending on the area they are hunting in, Kirkland said. They also receive $50 per python up to 4 feet and an extra $25 for each additional foot. They are paid $200 for the removal of each verified active python nest.

Pythons can be caught and humanely killed anytime on 32 commission-managed lands, as well as on private lands with landowner permission — no permit or hunting license required.

Kirkland has hunted pythons and still occasionally goes out in the field. The longest python he has captured was 17 feet, 3 inches. There’s a complex range of emotions that come into play when capturing a python, he said. There is an adrenaline rush, but also the satisfaction of knowing that you are removing an invasive animal from its non-native range, he said. On the other hand, there is also a sadness, Kirkland said. He loves snakes, and it’s sad to have to euthanize animals that were introduced to the ecosystem through no fault of their own, he said.

For a python hunter, even the professionals, it takes an average of 10 hours of searching for every python caught, Kirkland said.

The U.S. Geological Review published a review of python research in February 2023. One of the takeaways was that Burmese pythons now occupy most of southern Florida, encompassing approximately 30,000 square kilometers, or 11,583 square miles, from Lake Okeechobee throughout Palm Beach County, south through Miami-Dade County to Key Largo, and west throughout Monroe, Collier, Hendry and Lee counties.

The record for the largest (heaviest) python caught in Florida belongs to Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, and his team. They caught a 215-pound female, using radio telemetry, in December 2021. The female carried a record 122 developing eggs. Its stomach revealed that its last meal had been a white-tailed deer.

The record for the longest python was just set July 10, when Stephen Gauta and Jake Waleri of Naples caught a snake that was 19 feet long, weighing 125 pounds.

To find out more about becoming a python hunter during the upcoming hunt, visit flpythonchallenge.org/ participate/competition/registration/. ¦

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