A gaggle of hunters not too long ago stumbled upon—and captured—an invasive python in Central Florida. Chuckie Burgess and Kaylee Stillwaggon had been searching for alligators with Jay and Carlee Strickland on Sunday, October 29. The group was in T.M. Goodwin Waterfowl Administration Space, a marsh in southern Brevard County, after they noticed the snake close to the highway.
“I used to be freaking out,” Carlee Strickland advised FOX 35. “I don’t like several sort of snake, and I’ve by no means seen one which huge.”
Chuckie Burgess rapidly jumped a fence to seize the python. With assist from Strickland, he managed to subdue and kill the big snake, which taped in at 11-feet, 10-inches lengthy and weighed 52 kilos, based on the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Fee (FWC).
“Cowboy s***,” wrote Stillwaggon in a Fb publish exhibiting photos of the python—in addition to a gator they efficiently hunted later that day.
The python seize is particularly notable given its location in Central Florida. Burmese pythons have plagued the Everglades of South Florida, decimating native mammal species, for over twenty years—however lately, they’ve began spreading north into locations like West Palm Seashore and Fort Myers. Brevard County is even additional north than these locales.
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In an electronic mail supplied to Area & Stream, FWC stated it’s not the primary time a Burmese python has been found in Central Florida. “FWC employees carried out a necropsy and decided that it was male,” the assertion reads. “Right now, we have no idea how this invasive snake arrived to Brevard County. This was the second verified elimination of a Burmese python from Brevard County. On October 24, 2022, a lifeless Burmese python was discovered at Merritt Island Nationwide Wildlife Refuge.”
