The annual Florida Python Challenge has slithered to its conclusion, with professionally-categorized python purger Ronald Kiger crowned its victor after removing 20 Burmese pythons from the Florida Everglades.
Kiger received a $10,000 grand prize for the undertaking. Representatives from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced his win in a Tuesday morning meeting in Duck Key.
Kiger was last year’s runner-up, but tipped the scales this year, reaching first place by only one snake.
His win follows a 10-day hunt in which over 800 people from 33 states and Canada competed for prize money totaling about $25,000. The winnings were divided amongst competitors in the contest’s three categories: novice, professional and military. The commission revealed 195 Burmese pythons were successfully removed from the wild during the challenge.
Donna Kalil, a contractor with the South Florida Water Management District, rattled the competition, almost tying with Kiger. In the end though, she won a $2,500 prize for catching 19 pythons in the professional category.
The longest snake caught in the entire competition, regardless of category, measured in at 9 feet 11 inches (3 meters).
The competition is strategically held in mid-August each year: hatching season. A female python can lay about 50 to 100 eggs at a time, so hunters are tasked with humanely killing them and turning in their carcasses to three check stations in South Florida.
The hunt is designed to bring awareness to the invasive threat of the Burmese python species in Florida. These snakes are found primarily in and around the Everglades ecosystem in South Florida, where they prey on birds, mammals and other reptiles. Burmese pythons can spread diseases amongst native animals, affect native snakes and have high mercury levels that are dangerous for human consumption.
“Every invasive python that is removed makes a difference for Florida’s environment and its native wildlife,” said South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Member “Alligator Ron” Bergeron in a news release.
According to the wildlife agency, about 22,000 pythons have been removed from the state since 2000.
