I pay little heed to "documentaries" about this.
This is an old photo and it's MUCH worse now.
Newer photos from Google Earth shows just how far into into the swamp the developers have gone.
Posted on 10/09/2020 12:35:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
It’s official. An invasive Burmese python captured in the Everglades over the weekend has broken the state record measuring 18.9 feet long. The previous record was 18.8 feet long.
Ryan Ausburn, a contracted python hunter with the South Florida Water Management District and Kevin “Snakeaholic” Pavlidis, a contracted python hunter with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, captured the monster sized python on Friday, Oct. 2 along the L-28 Tieback Canal about 35 miles west of Miami.
On social media, Pavlidis wrote, “On Friday night, we pulled this BEAST of a snake out of waist-deep water in the middle of the night, deep in the Everglades. I have never seen a snake anywhere near this size and my hands were shaking as I approached her. Every python we catch can be potentially dangerous, but one this size? Lethal. One mistake, and I am for sure going to the hospital. But more importantly, this is a once in a lifetime snake. I could go out every single night for the rest of my life and never see one this big again.”
Ausburn described the capture as a real “BATTLE” saying “I am just incredibly grateful for this opportunity and an experience I will never forget. Realize what you have when you have it and cherish the experience in the moment. Be grateful, be respected, and be thankful.”
Ausburn said he knew as soon as he saw the snake “she had some size but it wasn’t until we walked to the water’s edge did I realize how big.”
Kevin Pavlidis, Ryan Ausburn and Angela Scafuro catch a monster sized Burmese python in the Everglades on Oct. 5. (Courtesy: Kevin Pavlidis, Ryan Ausburn and Angela Scafuro)
Usually, snake hunters grab the pythons by the head but Ausburn had to grab her by the rear and started pulling but “she immediately turned back and anchored herself around a tree. It took every ounce of strength to keep her from slipping away.”
Pavlidis said he has caught more than 400 snakes during the past 2 years, but none came close the size of his most recent catch.
The snake was officially measured on Thursday morning by the South Florida Water Management District which oversees the state’s python hunter program.
More than 5,000 Burmese pythons have been captured and removed from the Florida Everglades since the state started paying hunters to track them down in 2017. The python hunter program is managed by the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Burmese pythons were first discovered in the Everglades nearly two decades ago.
It’s believed they became established in Florida as a result of escaped or released pets and they are causing serious harm to the fragile Everglades ecosystem by eating native wildlife such as possum, rabbits, deer, bobcats, and other indigenous wildlife.
It is illegal to release nonnative species into the wild.
They’ve been successful at reproducing in the swampy Everglades because they have no predators. Females can lay up to 100 eggs.
That’s why the state started the bounty program, in which registered hunters earn a minimum wage rate for up to 10 hours of work a day, plus a bonus for their catch: $50 for each python measuring up to four feet plus $25 more for each food measured above four feet. Hunters who catch a nesting female python earn an additional $200.
Scientists estimate there are between 100,000 and 300,000 pythons in the Everglades.
To learn more about the FWC’s Python Action Team and the SFWMD’s Python Elimination Program, visit MyFWC.com/Python and SFWMD.gov/Python.
I pay little heed to "documentaries" about this.
This is an old photo and it's MUCH worse now.
Newer photos from Google Earth shows just how far into into the swamp the developers have gone.
Why do the snake hunters catch them alive and by hand? I thought the whole point of this is to rid Florida of invasive snake species.
“Anyone seen Fluffy?”
“Honey, didn’t we used to have 3 children?”
“Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?”
Apologies, seeing the picture of three people holding something that long, it was kind of a joke about which would be better, by the foot or by the pound. I did see the actual quote for the bounty give by the state. Thank you.
Pith? Had to look it up; didn't realize it was also an action verb.
No apology needed! I didn’t mean to come across as snarky:)
22 long rifle to the head of the snake.
That movie made me really like Samuel Jackson. He had to have had a great sense of humor to make it.
So, the enviro-biologists claim there are 200,000 + pyrhons in the everglades, and are proud of paying bounties when they kill 5000. I’m two years.
Wake me up when they are killing 50,000 per year.
Cut your grass or you will have more snakes in there. Meanwhile, you could get a lot of nice boots out of that dude.
When kill rate < breeding rate and no natural predators, they may be invasive but they have put down deep roots. Shame the crocks and alligators aren’t big enough to handle them. (Yes, FL has both alligators and crocodiles in that area.)
I’m not afraid of snakes, but I’d react to that one like when I find tomato hornworms on my tomatoes.
Honestly, if one of mine was suffering and too sick to survive, I’d have Himself cover its head with a towel and take a brick to it.
Absolutely no chance of any pain, at all.
:(
I’ll bet there are some guys out there making some decent money hunting snakes.
This sounds like a great retirement job. Out of curiosity, why don’t they just blow the head off with a shotgun?
I was wondering that too, but maybe not having to refrigerate it while you wait to have it verified is worth the hassle.
What makes you think it’s dead?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.