South Florida Snake Hunt Starts Again
Licensed python pursuers to take to Everglades today on 1st day of new season
Getty Images
EVERGLADES, FL - MAY 28: United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar uses a snake snare to hold onto a Burmese python during a briefing on invasive species control before getting a tour of the Everglades on an airboat on May 28, 2009 in the Everglades, Florida. Skip Snow (L) and Theresa Walters also hold the snake. Salazar visited the Everglades to get a first hand look at the park. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ken Salazar;Skip Snow;Theresa Walters
The hunt begins...again.
The second season of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's great python hunt begins today.
For a $26 permit fee, licensed hunters will be allowed to stalk and kill the slithering serpents on state-managed lands around the Everglades until April 17 under the revival of last year's snake hunt.
Some 39 pythons were captured and killed under the 2009 program, which ended in October. The FWC is hoping to eradicate some of the estimated 150,000 Burmese pythons on the loose in Florida that destroy ecosystems.
They're also hoping to get some of the Indian and African Rock pythons, as well as green anacondas and Nile monitor lizards.
It was hoped that the recent South Florida cold spell helped kill off many of the tropical snakes, but tens of thousands are likely still out there.
The FWC held a training session last month to teach snake hunters the tricks of the trade, including how to identify, stalk, capture and kill the snakes.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC 6 Miami
