17-Foot Burmese Python Weighing 100 Pounds Captured In Florida

A Florida trapper captured a massive Burmese python in the Everglades Water Conservation Area Monday (June 8) morning.

According to the South Florida Water Management officials (SFWMD), Mike Kimmel of Martin County, who was contracted to capture pythons for the South Florida Water Management District, single-handedly captured the snake around 11:30 am.

The invasive python, which was about 17-feet long and weighing 100 pounds, was found in a Miami canal south of I-75 on alligator alley.

The SFWMD has a program that works on capturing invasive pythons that harm the Everglades ecosystem. With the help of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the agency has captured over 4,500 pythons in three years. Kimmel too has been working with the agency for three years.

Last month, Kimmel captured a mother python and her nest of eggs in west Broward County. Kimmel told CBS 12 that the mother python was skinny and that there were 22 eggs.

“I was like holy crap. This is something I’ve been looking for since I started the program three years ago,” he had told the channel.

“That’s a huge win for conservation. Saving native wildlife, stopping the spread, and that’s really the name of the game,” he added.

Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put up the challenge called the “Florida Python Challenge 2020 Python Bowl” to remove exotic-invasive snakes. Kimmel removed the most number of pythons. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed that a total of 80 Burmese pythons were removed from the Everglades by the participants.

In December last year, Kimmel captured five snakes on the same day from the Big Cypress National Preserve in South Florida and posted a video of it on his YouTube channel.

“The weather was perfect and I had a great day leaving with 5 pythons, 3 of which I caught within 10 ft of each other all at once!” he said.

Kimmel spotted two pythons resting beside each other and a third one lurking about 10 feet away. He captured all the snakes and while putting them in his bag, one of the snakes bit him on the right wrist.