COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — Creepy crawlers are having their day on Halloween, but one invasive species is a “lengthy” problem in the Florida Everglades.
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According to the U.S. Geological Survey, climate change is helping these invasive pythons spread farther north.
Donna Kalil is one of about a hundred contractors in the Everglades looking for these large, invasive snakes and getting paid for it.
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Earlier this year, hunters snagged a 19-foot Burmese python, the longest ever measured and documented in the state.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates there are currently as many as 300,000 Burmese pythons in the Everglades with no major predator besides humans.
The Burmese python has taken a toll on native species. Raccoon and opossum populations in the park have dropped by 99%. Marsh and cottontail rabbits, along with foxes, have effectively disappeared.
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Kalil said this includes alligators as well.
“It’ll grab it and curl around it, constrict it, and once it’s dead, it will swallow it whole,” she explained. “It all depends on who’s the bigger predator. That will decide who wins the battle.”
Florida has been hosting an annual “Python Challenge” with $30,000 prizes as a way to combat the growing population. Over the past two decades, 18,000 of these belly-crawlers have been removed, which is just a fraction of the python population.
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