In just over a week, hundreds of python hunters will descend on the Everglades ecosystem in Southern Florida for the state’s annual Python Challenge.
Last year 857 participants helped remove 195 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades region. The snakes can be difficult to locate and track, and while the volume of snakes removed by Challenge participants over the years isn’t exactly staggering (just 1,112 all told, compared to roughly 23,000 removed since 2000), the challenge accomplishes a few key goals. It raises public awareness around invasive snakes in the Everglades ecosystem, and it teaches more people how to identify and remove the snakes.
“Every Burmese python removed from our iconic Florida Everglades means one less invasive snake negatively impacting our native wildlife,” FWC executive director Roger Young said in a statement.
Related: Watch Snake Hunters Catch the Longest Python Ever Recorded in Florida
This year, participants will be able to look for snakes inside the boundaries of Everglades National Park; there are a total of eight locations where competitors can look for the invasive snakes. Registration is open, and the challenge begins at 12:01 a.m. on July 11 and ends on July 20. In the meantime, check out photos from past Python Challenges here:
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