The Everglades are one of the wonders of the natural world.
But there are many terrifying things lurking in the massive swap.
And a Florida hunter ended up in one scary fight in the Everglades after this bad situation.
Burmese pythons wreak havoc on Florida
Burmese pythons brought over from southeast Asia as pets in the 1980s became one of the worst invasive species problems in Florida.
These massive snakes are on average anywhere from 10 to 15 feet long.
Some of their owners would release them into the wild when they realized how big they would get.
Hurricane Andrew – a category five storm – slammed into South Florida in 1992 causing massive devastation.
A python breeding facility was leveled during the hurricane, which released an untold number of snakes into the wild.
The Florida Everglades became overrun with Burmese pythons because they have no predators in the United States.
A female python can lay 50 to 100 eggs per year, which causes their population to explode.
As a result, these snakes have nearly wiped out native species in the Everglades like marsh rabbits, foxes, and bobcats.
That’s why the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rewarded python hunters and put on python challenges with cash prizes.
Florida man wrestles a 17-foot python caught in the Everglades
Mathew Kogo is one of the python hunters commissioned by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
He was hunting for pythons at night in the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, a swamp on the outskirts of the Everglades.
Kogo ran into a 17-foot python and drug onto a dirt road where he ended up getting into a wrestling match with it.
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The python began to wrap itself around him at one point in their tussle.
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“Gotta let her work,” Kogo said in the video. “As my Brazilian jiu-jitsu friends say. Gotta let ’em work.”
Kogo switched his hands in the video to keep himself fresh.
“Extra-large pythons are incredibly strong and will tangle you up and wear you out if given a chance,” Kogo explained. “To avoid this, do not work against the full strength of the snake. Work smart to let the snake wear itself out before exhausting yourself.”
“Make no mistake, you will still need a good bit of strength and experience to wrangle a monster,” Kogo continued. “But if you stay focused and intentional, working smarter, not harder, you can get the beast more safely under control.”
The Burmese python Kogo caught came out to be 17 feet long and weighed 106 pounds.
Kogo explained what happened to the snake afterward.
“After removal from the Everglades ecosystem, they are humanely euthanized under controlled conditions,” Kogo explained. “After that, the skin can be used for products, hopefully offsetting the demand for skins taken from snakes in their native ranges. It’s a difficult part of the job, but it’s what must be done.”
Kogo’s python ranks among the biggest found in South Florida.
The record length is 19 feet and an 18-foot-long female had a record weight of 215 pounds.
Read All About It will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
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