A member of Florida’s python removal team has hand-captured a Burmese python measuring 17 feet, 9 inches.
The massive snake was caught by Kevin Reich inside Big Cypress Natural Preserve, the FWC announced Monday via Facebook.
It’s the second largest python captured since the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission launched its Python Action Team program in the spring of 2017. (An 18-foot python was caught by a team member last December.)
Jamie Rager, a spokeswoman for the FWC, told FTW Outdoors that the longest python ever captured in Florida measured 18 feet, 8 inches. That snake was caught by private citizen in 2013.
The Python Action Team employs contractors such as Reich to remove Burmese pythons, an invasive species, from the wild. The constricting snakes pose a substantial threat to native wildlife throughout the Everglades ecosystem in south Florida.
Private citizens also can humanely kill pythons (no traps or firearms) without permits on private lands with landowner permission, and within 22 Wildlife Management Areas, and other areas where the snakes are known to exist.
The female python captured by Reich weighed 83 pounds, 12 ounces. Reich caught the python on July 26, but Rager said the FWC had not previously reported on the capture.
Rager said hand captures are common among Python Action Team members.
–Photo showing Kevin Reich with python is courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
