Nearly 18-Foot Burmese Python Captured in Big Cypress National Preserve
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Another giant Burmese python has been captured in the Florida Everglades.
This time it was a 17-foot 9-inch python, which weighed 83 pounds.
FWC python hunter Kevin Reich snatched it the Big Cypress National Preserve.
This is the second biggest snake ever caught by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Python Team.
According to FWC, the longest python ever caught in Florida was an 18-foot-8-inch, 128-pound female.
Most Burmese pythons in Florida are between 6 yo 10 feet long, but some grow much larger.
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in and around the Everglades. Scientists say they have eliminated 99-percent of the native mammals in the Everglades, decimating food sources for native predators such as panthers and alligators.
The state pays select hunters to catch and kill the invasive snakes on state lands and even hosts a popular python hunt for the public every three years in an attempt to control the tens of thousands of pythons that are estimated to be slithering through the Everglades.