Amy: I'm warning you, Ihave no idea what part. Got him. Oh, damn, I thought he was gone. Narrator: Catching wild Burmese pythons takes serious skills. Amy: Right there. Right there. You see it? Narrator: Only 100 people are licensed to capture these snakes in Florida,.
Where the invasive pest hasdecimated local wildlife. Beth: It's not easy once you catch, crawling up this levy with a python.It's still fighting. You feel it. They get tighter and tighter,and sometimes I've almost felt like it could just pop my kneecap. Narrator: They aren't poisonous, but they have super strong bodies.
That they use to squeezeand kill their prey, which could be as large as an alligator. The only way to try tostop the invasive species from taking over is bycatching them one by one. So who are the fearless python hunters making the most out ofthis risky business? Why is python removalso urgent for Florida? And how did they gethere in the first place? Amy: Hey, let go, letgo, let go of the tail.
Narrator: Amy Siewe hasgot over 400 pythons since she began hunting in 2019. Amy: When you see that python, it's adrenaline through the roof. Do it here. Somebody grab the tailand I can grab the head. You got to pull this tight. Hurry up. Got to pull it tight.
Amy: Sometimes it's an easy grab. Sometimes it's a battle. You just never know whatyou're going to get. So it keeps it very exciting. Narrator: She taught herselfhow to skin the animals and often does it at home. She uses pool salt to preserve it until she can send it to a tannery. Amy: We have to put it on thick enough.
So it'll get in all ofthe little crevices. And that is a snake roll. Narrator: In 2019, shedeveloped her own line of python leather, turning the skin intobracelets and wristbands. Amy: I hate that we have to kill them. That is the worst partof this job, but we do. There's no other choice. So I've kind of madeit my mission to figure.
Out how to use as much of the python as possible,so they don't go to waste. Narrator: Back in the 1980s,these snakes were sold as exotic pets. They were imported from Southeast Asia, and newspaper ads priced themat a few hundred dollars. Then in 1992, dozens of Burmese pythons escaped a breeding facility when Hurricane Andrew hit.
And their spread has beennearly impossible to control, because they have no real predators here in the Florida Everglades, one of the largest wetlands on the planet. The biggest one ever foundin Florida was 215 pounds, 18 feet long, and wasready to lay 122 eggs. The snakes swallow their prey whole, and while they rarely attack humans, they're killing allkinds of native animals,.
From small birds to large alligators. In 2012, populations of foxes and marsh and cottontailrabbits effectively disappeared because of pythons. McKayla: We are finding thoseanimals in their stomachs, including some endangered species and federally threatened species, such as the endangered Key Largo woodrat and the federally threatened wood stork.
Narrator: Now, licensedcontractors like Peggy and Beth remove about 5,000 pythons a year from the Everglades. They start hunting after sunset, because that's when snakesare out searching for prey. Narrator: Only licensed python hunters and government officials are allowed to drive throughthese restricted levees. There's virtually no cellservice once they enter,.
So they use a satellite radio. And if a serious injury were to happen, they would need to be airlifted out. Spotting a python is hard,even with that flashlight. Beth: I'll see a python, and it's moving, and we'll get in that area,and you're looking around, and you might as well stepon it before you see it. I mean, it's amazing how well they can camouflage themselves into this.
Narrator: Still, theysay this is easy compared to their full-time job grooming dogs. Beth: We've been in businesstogether for 35 years now, and it's a lot of work. That job is hard work. It makes this look like a cakewalk. Narrator: But it takes patience. Often they can hunt all nightand still leave empty-handed. It's like regular life.
Hours and hours of boredom, and then minutes of pure adrenaline. Let's go get some pythons. I'm looking for, like,an opalescent sheen, like a water bottle or a piece of glass. The light will catchthe shine of the python. You're scanning theenvironment for other dangers. You know there might be analligator in the water nearby. There might be a cottonmouth nearby.
Narrator: We followed them on three hunts before they finally spotted a python. Peggy: Right there. Right there. You see it? Beth: Yeah. Narrator: Then it's all hands on deck. They keep the snakes on the ground. Lifting it in the air would scare it. Peggy: It's a battle.
You've got to wear it out and, you know, and get it calmed down, so you can get it in the bag. So you're sweating. It's very hot. Even the smallest python, you will be shocked at the strength. They're nothing but muscle. Keep going.
Keep it tight. Narrator: Florida'sFish and Wildlife agency pays hunters by the hourand by how long a snake is. All right, almost 9-footer. Peggy: Is it $50 for the first 4 feet, and then an additional $25for each foot beyond 4 feet. So like, a 5-foot snake is $75. Narrator: But they don'tkill the snakes in the wild. The state decides whether they'lleuthanize the animal later.
Or if it'll be used for research. They double-bag it andput it inside a lockbox. All right, lock her up. I grew up down here,so I definitely can see the impact these pythonshave had on the environment. Narrator: Peggy and Bethstarted hunting five years ago after they participated in the Florida Python Challenge in 2016. That's a 10-day eventthat anyone can enter.
And get a cash prize for catching a snake. Animal rights groups likePETA have criticized it, because they say it allowsinexperienced people to “go barging about in forests and swamps on a macho mission to kill.” But the FWC does require participants to take an online course before the hunt. McKayla: She's backingup trying to figure out, can I get away from her?.
Narrator: And biologistslike McKayla Spencer say euthanizing the snakes is the only way to control the problem. McKayla: We've always had people asking, “Have you thought about re-homing them? Could we send them backto their native country?” Well, you know, remember,these animals are established in a whole different ecosystem. They could have differentdiseases and things like that,.
So we really can't shipthem anywhere else. McKayla: Her not striking is agood sign that she's tiring now. Ooh, got her. Narrator: She works for the FWC and showed us how hunters cancapture the snakes safely. McKayla: The second I had herpinned right behind that head, I reached in and grabbed. If she goes around my leg,it can be a good example of like, why I give hera leg and not my arms.
She's actually stayingrelatively calm after capturing, probably because thatback-and-forth tired her out. But I've got my leg here. I'm not sitting on her. Just to be clear, I don'tput any weight on a snake, and I tell people, don't ever sit on them. Don't put any weight. Sometimes they'll justput themselves in the bag once you start to feed them in there.
There we go. And then a little bit more of a coil. All right. We'll just feed her in there. So she goes in here. We'll stick that top on. Narrator: Since the snakesneed to be eradicated, some python huntersare doing what they can to preserve the legacy.
Amy: They're amazing creatures. They're beautiful. It's not their fault they're here. They're just doing what pythons do. Narrator: Amy says herleather line is her own way of honoring the reptiles. Amy: This is a skin that hassome battle wounds on it, some scars on it, from the python being in the wild.
You know, they get bitten by alligators. They get clawed by bears. They get in fights withthemselves, with each other. The cool thing about this is that if you get a product that is made out of, with this scar in it, it is the only one like it in the world, andthis is from the Everglades. You know that you'rehelping the Everglades when you are taking these animals out.
Peggy: Well, I just try to remind myself that for the greater good, a lot of natives are going to live. I can remove one pythonand give dozens of rabbits a chance at a good life.
once you if truth be told abhor it then dont develop it
I know they’re frigid blooded, but has somebody tried finding them with thermal cameras? You might perhaps perchance perhaps perhaps perhaps spend drones and duvet more territory quicker and wouldn’t be guessing the set they’re at when making an strive to capture them.
Why does all these narrators exclaim poisonous?