New Winner Emerges From Florida Python Challenge to Raise Awareness in Everglades

All over the world, people participate in hunting competitions. In Florida, participants have the opportunity to win a prize and take part in a unique challenge that helps preserve the environment.

The Florida Python Challenge is exactly what it sounds like. Participants compete in three categories (beginner, professional, and military) to help humanely catch, kill, and dispose of as many nuisance snakes as possible to win their share of a $25,000 prize pot.

Burmese pythons are a major threat to the ecosystem. A 10-day hunt is being organized in the Florida Everglades to track down Burmese pythons. Harmful to other snakes in the area, Burmese pythons also transmit diseases to other wildlife and have mercury levels that are dangerously high for human consumption.

Although the competition took place in mid-August, the winners were not announced until this week in Duck Key.

This year’s big winner was Ronald Kiger, who eliminated 20 snakes from the Florida Everglades. He won a $10,000 prize for his work.

Donna Kalil, a contractor with the South Florida Water District, was the only one to miss Kiger. She caught 19 and won $2,500 in the professional category.

Marcos Rodriguez won $1,500 for catching 16 pythons in the professional category. $1,000 was awarded to Quentin Archie for catching the longest python of the professional competitors, measuring 8’11”.

Thomas Hobbs led the novice category with 16 catches, while Dennis Krum took home the longest snake award at 9’11”. It was the longest snake caught in the competition, as they took home $2,500 and $1,000 respectively.

The winner of the military division was Jeff Lince, who captured five Burmese pythons. The longest snake in this group was captured by Antonio Ramos, with a catch measuring 9’7″.

In total, more than 800 people competed this year, from 33 states and Canada. 195 Burmese pythons were removed from the wild, which will certainly help improve wildlife conditions in the region.

“More than 14,000 pythons have been successfully removed by FWC and South Florida Water Management District contractors since 2017,” Rodney Barreto, chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said in a news release via Stephany Matat of the Associated Press. “This collective effort continues to have a direct positive impact on the Everglades and our native wildlife through removal and awareness.”

This year’s event was slightly smaller than the 2023 edition, which saw more than 1,000 hunters and 209 captured pythons. Since 2000, about 22,000 of these dangerous snakes have been removed from Florida.