A more than 17-foot female python became the largest ever caught in northern part of the Florida Everglades last week and may herald a new way of fighting the massive invasive snakes.
The Big Cypress National Preserve, located in Collier, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties in South Florida, posted the news about the python’s capture on its Facebook page Friday. It also noted the 140-pound snake was carrying more than 70 developing eggs — so, in effect, the capture helped eliminate 74 pythons from the Everglades.
“She is the largest python ever removed from Big Cypress National Preserve — and she was caught because of research and a new approach to finding pythons,” the park posted.
The park explained the new process to hunt the non-native snakes involves outfitting male pythons with radio transmitters, “which allows the team to track the male to locate breeding females.”
“The team not only removes the invasive snakes, but collects data for research, develop new removal tools, and learn how the pythons are using the Preserve,” the park said in its post.
It was through this process — tracking a male python with a transmitter — that led to the location and capture of the massive female python.
The pythons in the Everglades and in the Big Cypress National Preserve have had a profound impact on the environment, which is primary reason for trying to find a way eliminate or control their population.
“Haven’t seen any deer or small animals for several years in the Big Cypress,” a Facebook user commented on the park’s post.