The second-largest Burmese python ever discovered in South Florida has been caught after five hunters sat on it.
Seizing the Monster
Conservationist Mike Elfenbein and his teen son Cole were hunting for pythons at Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida when they spotted a large snake slithering across the gravel road. Elfenbein occasionally hunts Burmese pythons in the 729,000-acre (295,015 hectares) preserve, but this one is the largest snake he had ever seen.
At first, they thought the female snake was an alligator due to its huge size. As described by Elfenbein, it was more than a snake, but rather a monster. The two hunters were soon joined by three other men - Holden Hunter, Carter Gavlock, and Trey Barber - after they spotted them struggling with the monster snake.
The men soon realized that the monster was a Burmese python (Python bivittatus). Gavlock grabbed the snake's tail to constrain the animal, but it dragged him away. The reptile nearly took him into the canal as there was nothing he could do to stop it. In the end, all the five men had to sit on the snake to catch it.
The animal weighs 198 pounds (90 kilograms) and measures 17.2 feet (5.2 meters), making it the second-heaviest python ever caught in Florida. The heaviest Burmese python captured in the state was caught in 2022 and weighed 215 pounds (98 kilograms).
After performing necropsies on the animal, the authorities found remains of a white tail deer inside its stomach. This finding is not uncommon because such pythons are invasive to the area and pose major risk to local wildlife and ecosystems.
READ ALSO: 15-Feet Burmese Python Slithering in Pedestrian Road of Everglades Found Pregnant, Carrying Eggs
Python Invasion in Florida
Burmese python is the largest subspecies of the Indian python and one of the six largest snakes in the world. It measures 16 feet (4.9 meters) and can grow up to 22 feet (6.7 meters) long in captivity. They prey upon birds, mammals, and reptiles using a jaw which separates to enable them to consume animals that are about four to five times the size of their own heads.
These animals are native to Thailand, the Malay archipelago, Indochina, Myanmar, and China. They are attracted to environments with permanent water sources like rainforests with swaps and streams. They can also survive in different habitats such as rocky foothills and grasslands.
Nobody knows exactly how the Burmese pythons first arrived in Florida. In the 1970s, around 99,000 were brought to the U.S. to be sold as pets. Many of them either escaped or were released by their owners. In the 1980s and 1990s, they successfully reproduced to create a population that is currently considered invasive in the Florida Everglades.
Since they have few natural predators in the state, they are able to flourish and disrupt the food supplies of the native animals like bobcats, opossums, and racoons. The animals that they often prey on, including foxes, cottontail rabbits, and marsh rabbits, have nearly disappeared from the Everglades since the Burmese pythons were introduced in the area.
In Florida, it is legal to hunt and kill these snakes humanely. In fact, limiting the spread of Burmese pythons is one of the key goals of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
RELATED ARTICLE: Florida Hunters Catch a Record-Breaking 18-foot Python
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