The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s “Python Action Team” removed its 900th invasive snake last month, including one record-setting beast.
Just two days before catching their 900th snake, a team working in the Big Cypress National Preserve snared an 18-foot long, 98 pound 10 ounce female Burmese python.
It’s the largest ever captured by the team, the largest python ever found in the park and the second-largest python ever caught in Florida. It was only four inches shorter than the record.
“Burmese pythons are an invasive species in and around the Everglades. Scientists say they have eliminated 99-percent of the native mammals in the Everglades, decimating food sources for native predators such as panthers and alligators,” CBSMiami reports. “Native populations of bobcats, opossums, raccoons, foxes and rabbits have been devastated. Because of their large size, adult Burmese pythons have few predators, with alligators and humans being the exceptions.”
“Capturing large adult females is critical because it prevents them from potentially adding an average of 30 to 60 hatchlings to the population each time they breed,” CBSMiami notes.
