Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, holds a Burmese python at a media event, Thursday, June 16, 2022, where he announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, , in Miami. The Python Challenge is intended to engage the public in participating in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal of the Burmese python. Also pictured are Ron Bergeron, left, McKayla Spencer, second from left, Rodney Barreto, third from right, and Jan Fore, second from right. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)McKayla Spencer, left, Jan Fore, center, and Sarah Funck, right, all of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), carry a Burmese python at a media event where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Miami. The Python Challenge is intended to engage the public in participating in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal of the Burmese python. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a media event, Thursday, June 16, 2022, where he announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, in Miami. The Python Challenge is intended to engage the public in participating in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal of the Burmese python. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)McKayla Spencer, left, and Jan Fore, right, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), demonstrate a safe capture of a Burmese python at a media event where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Miami. The Python Challenge is intended to engage the public in participating in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal of the Burmese python. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)A Burmese python is held during a safe capture demonstration where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced at a media event that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Miami. The Python Challenge is intended to engage the public in participating in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal of the Burmese python. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Chairman Rodney Barreto, right, speaks at a media event where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Miami. The Python Challenge is intended to engage the public in participating in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal of the Burmese python. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)Freddy the Friendly Alligator, the mascot for the South Florida Water Management District, sits in the shade at a media event where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Miami. The Python Challenge is intended to engage the public in participating in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal of the Burmese python. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, holds a Burmese python at a media event, Thursday, June 16, 2022, where he announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, , in Miami. The Python Challenge is intended to engage the public in participating in Everglades conservation through invasive species removal of the Burmese python. Also pictured are Ron Bergeron, left, McKayla Spencer, second from left, Rodney Barreto, third from right, and Jan Fore, second from right. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
MIAMI – Flanked by a huge writhing snake, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that the annual prize-winning hunt for invasive Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades will begin Aug. 5.
Behind the Republican governor, it took three people to hold a live, 10-foot (3-meter) female python as a demonstration. The snakes have virtually no natural enemies in the Everglades and have decimated native populations of mammals, birds and other reptiles.
“These pythons are a threat to the Everglades,” DeSantis said. “Let's reel in some pythons.”
The hunt begins Aug. 5 at 8 a.m. and ends Aug. 14 at 5 p.m. Prizes include $2,500 for the most pythons captured and $1,500 for the longest snake. Last year, the first-prize winner captured 223 pythons, while the $1,500 winner bagged a snake that was more than 15 feet (4.5 meters) long. Snakes must be killed humanely.
DeSantis said this year's state budget includes $3 million specifically for python removal in the Everglades, including technology such as infrared sensors to locate the hard-to-see snakes in the wild. A key point of the snake event, the governor said, is to raise awareness about the threat and enable people to take part.
“We view this as a challenge,” he said. “We really wanted to supercharge those efforts.”
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