Posted on 10/22/2022 2:08:30 AM PDT by dennisw
Matthew Concepcion won the prize for the most pythons removed, having hunted a total of 28 snakes.
Dustin Crum won the prize for the biggest python removed, having captured a snake measuring 11 feet and 24 inches.
A total of 231 invasive Burmese pythons were removed in total from the Florida ecosystem during the 10-day challenge in August, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced.
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in Florida. They are native to Asia, but they can also survive in Florida's subtropical climate.
The snakes were first introduced to the environment in the 1970s—likely as exotic pets released into the wild. Ever since, they have been extremely destructive to the native ecosystem, and their population is only increasing.
The hunt, which is managed by the FWC, is a yearly effort to remove as many of the snakes from the ecosystem as possible.
In total, nearly 1,000 participants across 32 states took part in the challenge.
One of them was Stephen Gauta, who took part in the challenge alongside his cousin, Jake Waleri.
"The challenge interests me because I love getting outdoors and learning more about the wildlife in south Florida," Gauta told Newsweek. "Since these pythons are such a destructive force I feel like it's my responsibility to go and take part in a the python challenge to give our native wildlife a fighting chance."
The Burmese pythons feast on much of Florida's native wildlife, such as bobcats and deer.
Gauta said he and fellow hunters road cruise, meaning they drive slowly along the shoulder of roads with bright lights, look around the swamp.
"Once again, the Florida Python Challenge® has yielded impressive results with hundreds of invasive pythons being removed from the wild," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a press release.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
And what of the walking catfish and kudzu?
Apparently there's a hefty bounty on them.
Too late for kudzu it’s all over the south, even here in Tennessee along with wild rose bushes introduced by the Roosevelt administration.
Don’t know about walking catfish but we got Asian carp in the rivers.
Troy did another show called “Swamp Mysteries” and in one of the episodes he explained how hurricanes, and the residual flooding, displace predators and thats how we end up with species native to mexico all over the US gulf region. Hurricanes also cause domestic predators to spread throughout the southern states the same way. It’s not always just people dumping exotic pets after they get too big to handle.
Surely everglades residents could conjour up a tasty meal from these things. Best way to get rid of any species is to make them extra tasty
Once I saw a local Knoxville tv show where an old-timer was interviewed. He told the different ways they ate kudzu. I wish I had paid more attention.
Mossberg 500 and a KBar fighting knife.
🤮
“Once I saw a local Knoxville tv show where an old-timer was interviewed. He told the different ways they ate kudzu. I wish I had paid more attention.”
Kudzu is a favorite ingredient in Japan. Used as a thickener like corn starch. It is considered medicinal. Prolly eaten in other ways too. I’ll bet the young tender foliage is edible.
“Now I have that Snake Farm song stuck in my head.”
Snakes on a plane! And they are Burmese pythons!
Best way go find them is at dusk with thermal cameras on drones. They stay hot when things start cooling down. Gotta spend money to make money. They could kill every one of them for all I care.
11 feet and 24 inches... That would be 13 feet for normal people. If it’s circumference it should be stated.
“11 feet and 24 inches... That would be 13 feet for normal people.”
That’s funny. Good catch.
Them walking catfish are probably trying to avoid being eaten by kudzu! That stuff will cover over towns if not cut down.
Kudzu was introduced by scientists to combat soil erosion.
Trust the science!
Science!!!
“ Matthew Concepcion won the prize for the most pythons removed, having hunted a total of 28 snakes.”
The 28 snakes are gone but their impact will be remembered.
The snakes were able to send in their mail in ballots before their demise.
Democratic voting commissioners insisted these ballots be counted “because snake lives matter”.
Good on them that are doing their best to remove the pythons. I hope they are killing them & not just wasting money moving them where they would be trouble for someone else. Having the bounty on them probably helps considerably.
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