Over 2,000 pounds of snakes have been caught (seriously, a literal TON), researchers conducting an area tracking study said. One of five Burmese pythons was found to be the longest male python caught in south Florida.
The scariest part may be the isolated location. This entire study was done in only one county – Collier County.
Conservancy of Southwest Florida
“It’s just kind of jaw-dropping,” said Conservancy of Southwest Florida biologist Ian Bartoszek, who teamed up with Denison University biologist Paul Andreadis, the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the United States Geological Survey for the project according to the Ledger Inquirer.
“We’ve got a pretty big problem out there,” said Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist.
Out of the five largest Burmese pythons found in Collier County this year, one is a male and all of the others are females – that are pregnant. The male is the largest Burmese python on record caught locally with a length of 16 feet and weighing in at 140 pounds.
Bartoszek adds the best way to track the huge reptiles is by using other pythons known as ‘snitch snakes’. “They wear a wire and they rat on their friends out there and that’s lead us to some breeding aggregations of pythons which were removed,” Bartoszek said to WinkNews.
“It’s not like I’m waving a flag and declaring victory. But we’ve removed over 2,000 pounds of snakes from a fairly localized area,” Bartoszek said. “Through active searching and radio telemetry, one little snake busted up multiple breeding aggregations.”
