Higher snake prizes in August 2024 hunt

Florida’s annual python hunt in the Everglades will take place Aug. 9-18, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez announced in May at a news conference in Miami-Dade County.

Burmese pythons are an invasive species that pose a threat to Everglades wildlife. Florida pays hunters each year to catch the snakes. State-licensed hunters can earn up to $25,000 this year, Nuñez said at the news conference outside Homestead.

The Burmese python is one of the largest snakes in the world and is not venomous. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, adult snakes captured in Florida average between 7 and 9 feet (2.7 to 2.7 meters). The largest snake captured in Florida was over 18 feet (5.5 meters).

Longest and most captured snakes to win prizes at Florida Python Challenge

Prizes will be awarded for the longest or most numerous snakes captured, Nuñez said.

To register for the Florida Python Challenge, visit FLPythonChallenge.org.

More: What temperature does it take to kill Florida iguanas and Burmese pythons?

Last year, 209 snakes were caught in the hunt. The prize was $10,000.

A 2012 study suggested that in Everglades National Park, pythons were responsible for an 85 to 100 percent decline in the population of medium-sized animals such as raccoons and rabbits.

How the Burmese Python Invasion Began in Florida

The Burmese python invasion began with releases — intentional or not — of captive snakes, which likely gained a foothold in Everglades National Park in the mid-1980s, according to Florida’s 2021 python control plan. By 2000, several generations of pythons were living in the park, noted in a 2023 report that is more than 100 pages long and summarizes decades of python research.

There were haphazard efforts to eliminate the struggling herd, but it wasn’t until 2019 that federal, state and nonprofit authorities launched a python management planning group. In 2021, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made Burmese pythons a prohibited species.

Today, there are no reliable estimates of python abundance in Florida, the 2023 report says.

The study adds that “eradication of the entire population across the landscape is not possible with existing tools.”

How many pythons have been captured in Palm Beach County?

Between 2006 and 2023, 54 pythons were captured in Palm Beach County, according to the Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System, or EDDMapS. Additionally, four were found dead and 24 sightings were reported.

Among the 54 animals captured was a 10-foot python captured and killed on a levee east of the Loxahatchee refuge in 2016. Before that, another was found in a parking lot at the refuge. Another was seen in 2008 on a levee to the south.

In 2019, an unconfirmed python sighting was observed inside the refuge.

Chris Persaud is the Palm Beach Post’s data reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].

Palm Beach Post reporter Kim Miller contributed to this report.