Firefighters Rescue Stranded, Ailing Python Hunters in Florida Everglades: Authorities

The men from Tennessee were in Florida to hunt pythons

Two stranded and disoriented python hunters were rescued by a helicopter Thursday in the Everglades of northern Broward County, authorities said.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Regional Everglades units responded just before 4 p.m. to a call about the snake hunters stranded about 15 miles west of U.S. 27 on the northern border of the county, BSFR spokesman Mike Jachles said in a statement.

Those units and Broward Sheriff’s Office Air Rescue began searching, and about half an hour later the two men were spotted about two miles north of the L-5 Levee and 15 miles west of U.S. 27.

The helicopter landed in the Everglades and brought the wayward python hunters, ages 22 and 25, to the waiting rescue units about two miles away. The victims complained of lightheadedness and weakness, and were suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration, Jachles said.

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Firefighter-paramedics treated both patients on the scene, and they refused to be taken to a hospital, he said.

The two men, from Tennessee, were in the Sunshine State to hunt pythons, Jachles said. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is currently holding its inaugural Python Challenge, which wraps up this weekend.

It’s believed the hunters were staying in their car in the Everglades while they searched for the snakes, Jachles said.

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