You definitely read that correctly. Florida is kicking off it’s second Burmese Python Challenge…where you have an assembled team to hunt down and capture the pythons that lurk in Florida’s everglades. Winners get a nice chunk of change. Hit the jump.
The team to hunt down and catch the most Burmese Pythons will be rewarded $5,000 and an additional $3,500 to the best individual hunter.
So far, the month long competition has already enlisted over 600 people from 24 states that have signed up – all your average Joes and not professional python hunters. They’re facing up to 30,000 pythons that currently occupy Florida’s everglades out of 300,000 that are currently reigning over the sunshine state.
The snakes are known to grow up to 23 feet long and 200 lbs…yeah sign me up…
The ‘Python Challenge’ was started in 2013 to reduce the number of pythons that do not belong in the Everglades and “pose a threat to native wildlife”- according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who organize the event.
The hunters have been suggested to use firearms and bolt guns to ‘instantly kill the animals’, which has sparked some controversy among some animal rights groups in the unethical way that they are killed.
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk stated:
“Pythons who have had their heads hacked off remain alive and will writhe in agony for hours if their brains are not immediately destroyed”
‘PETA is calling on Florida officials to stop authorizing snake decapitation and make it clear that this egregiously inhumane killing method is unacceptable.’
The Burmese Python has been an unwelcomed guest in Florida, originally coming from southeast Asia, and is ‘wreaking havoc on one of America’s most beautiful, treasured and naturally bountiful ecosystems’, according to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director Marcia McNutt in a 2012 report.
