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There are plenty of dangerous animals that roam the wild in Florida, and that includes the Burmese pythons that have slowly but surely expanded their domain over the decades. The state has made a concerted effort to target the invasive species, and some scientists who hunted down the snakes during the most recent breeding season set a new record during the very successful endeavor.
As you can probably surmise from the name, Burmese pythons are not native to Florida. That moniker was derived from the country that is now known as Myanmar, and they were only found in the wild in Southeast Asia until they managed to establish a foothold in Florida with the help of the exotic pet trade that reached its apex in the state in the 1980s.
More than a few people who ended up in the possession of a python opted to release them after they became too much of burden, which possibly contributed to what eventually became a full-fledged infestation.
However, some experts say the tipping point occurred when Hurricane Andrew struck a makeshift warehouse in the city of Homestead in 1992 that was home to hundreds of pythons that eventually made their way to the nearby Everglades before becoming a self-sustaining population.
In 2006, officials in Florida held a summit to discuss how to target the pythons and other invasive species that had managed to disrupt the ecosystem of the Everglades, and in 2013, the state organized the first-ever “Florida Python Challenge” while giving hunters the chance to reduce the population and win some money in the process.
As things currently stand, experts don’t even know how many Burmese pythons call Florida home (a representative for the South Florida Water Management District has admitted it “could be tens of thousands, or it could be hundreds of thousands“).
The state nonetheless continues to fight its fairly uphill battle with the snakes, and on Monday, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida issued what could either be viewed as a concerning or promising update following the conclusion of the most recent “research and removal season” (which coincides with the breeding season that transpires from November to April).
The conservancy conducts its hunt with the help of tagged male pythons it uses as scouts to lead them to females capable of laying eggs (it says it has destroyed more than 20,000 eggs since officially kicking off its crusade in 2013).
As of 2025, it has also helped remove more than 20 tons worth of pythons from the 200-square-mile area it monitors after surpassing that threshold with the help of the 6,300 pounds that were recorded during the most recent endeavor—the highest total that’s been posted in a single campaign (according to The Miami Herald, the females that are captured are humanely euthanized to curb reproduction, and the males that are tracked down are harnessed to serve as scouts).
Not too shabby.
Content shared from brobible.com.