Two wildlife management officers raided a Burmese python nest in a swamp in South Florida.
The officers take a photo beside two large python nests. Photo: FWC
Alex McDuffie discovered a newly hatched Burmese python on the night of July 11 at Big Cypress National Preserve, a 729,000 km² freshwater swamp ecosystem located in Ochopee, Florida, north of Everglades National Park. While monitoring the python, McDuffie encountered Matthew Rubenstein, an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), who was patrolling the area and invited him to join in the python hunt.
The duo quickly located a Burmese python nest, where a large female python was coiled around 23 unhatched eggs, and another nearby nest contained 18 newly hatched pythons. When McDuffie returned to the site the following day, he found a second female python measuring 5.3 meters long and took it away.
“The pythons and unhatched eggs were removed from the habitat to help prevent future negative impacts on native wildlife,” FWC stated.
The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) was first introduced to Florida in the 1970s and has developed into a large population in southern Florida. These large pythons typically measure between 1.8 to 2.7 meters in length. Recently, authorities captured a 5.4-meter python near Naples, weighing 97 kg. Due to having few natural predators, invasive pythons pose a threat to many native bird species, mammals, and even alligators, according to FWC.
For this reason, FWC and other organizations employ various measures to locate, capture, and eliminate pythons from the South Florida ecosystem, including hiring contractors to survey swamps and capture any pythons found. FWC also hosts an annual 10-day python elimination competition called the Florida Python Challenge, which runs from August 5 to August 14. More than 600 participants took part in last year’s Python Challenge, removing 223 Burmese pythons from the Everglades.
