WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — The annual Florida Python Challenge kicked off on Friday, with hunters heading into the Everglades to track down invasive Burmese pythons in hopes of winning a share of the $30,000 prizes.
The annual 10-day hunt, which began more than a decade ago, aims to raise public awareness about Florida’s invasive species problems and engage them in the conversation about the Everglades, said Sarah Funck, chief of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s impact management section.
“They’re a well-established invasive species in much of South Florida, unfortunately in our natural areas,” Funck said of Burmese pythons. “A big part of this challenge is making sure that people understand this issue and understand that in general, when you have a non-native species in the state for whatever reason, you don’t let it go, that can really be detrimental to our environment.”
Over the past decade, the Python Challenge has made headlines for its incentive-based, Florida-only hunting style, and celebrity participationThis year, more than 600 people registered for the event, with two coming from Canada and 108 from other states.
During the challenge, hunters will hang out in designated areas in western Broward County, up to the Tamiami Trail in the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area, including other management areas such as Southern Glades, Holey Land and Rotenberger.
The goal is to kill as many pythons as possible in a humane way. The prizes are divided into three groups: professional hunters working for the state, hunters who are active in the military or are veterans, and novice hunters, which includes anyone who is not a state-contracted python hunter.
Each category has its own prizes, with $2,500 awarded to the person or team that kills the most pythons, $1,500 to the runner-up for the most kills, and $1,000 to the person who kills the longest python. The top prize for the most kills in all categories is $10,000.
Each person can win only one prize. If someone is the best in two categories, he gets the prize with the highest value. The next hunter who qualifies gets the remaining prize.
In 2017, the South Florida Water Management District and the state began hiring contractors to deal with the invasive python problem year-round. According to the wildlife agency’s website, more than 11,000 pythons have been removed by these contractors through 2023.
Last year’s challenge netted 209 pythons, with the grand prize winner being Paul Hobbs, who captured 20 pythons. In 2023, the Florida Wildlife Agency and county contractors will remove approximately 2,200 pythons.
Amy Siewe, the self-proclaimed Python Huntress, won a prize last year for capturing a 10-foot, 9-inch (327-centimeter) Burmese python. She won’t be competing in this year’s challenge due to knee surgery, but she said she’s not a fan of the annual challenge.
Siewe, who used to work as a government contractor trapping invasive pythons, said she believes the original intent of the challenge was to raise awareness of the problem. Now it draws large groups of hunters, potentially scaring off pythons and potentially killing native snakes they mistake for pythons, such as corn snakes, brown water snakes or water moccasins.
“Pythons don’t go into their normal behavior patterns because there’s so much traffic and they come up and then go back into the swamp,” Siewe said. “I personally find it counterproductive.”
Participants will be required to complete an online training course, including information on how to identify Burmese pythons from other snakes, Funck said. She said there is also an additional optional in-person training course that participants can attend to help them correctly identify Burmese pythons.
“That’s a big part of what we’re doing: trying to get the word out about how to identify these pythons and how to capture them safely and humanely,” Funck said.
