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Florida python control persists, mercury warning

Updated 4 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-07 19:12 UTC → 2026-08-10 18:22 UTC · added removed

The 2026 Florida Python Challenge ran from July 10‑19, 10–19, drawing 907 hunters from 30 U.S. states, Canada Canada, and Vietnam. Participants removed 280 invasive Burmese pythons, raising the season total to roughly 1,400 and bringing the cumulative statewide removal count past 19,000 since the program began in 2017. Tom Rahill Rahill, founder of the Broward County-based organization SwampApes, captured the grand‑prize grand-prize haul of 96 snakes, while snakes. Rahill utilized a strategy of nighttime expeditions, specifically targeting a nest where hatchlings were emerging from eggs. Rahm Levinson recorded the longest specimen at 16 ft 5 in. Both Rahill and Levinson are members of SwampApes, an initiative that uses python hunting as “nature therapy” for military veterans and first responders. FWC officials highlighted the effort as a “major victory” for protecting Everglades wildlife. State health officials reiterated that, although python meat is technically edible, it often contains elevated mercury levels that pose risks to children, pregnant people people, and frequent consumers. The warning was emphasized alongside ongoing outreach, such as Wildman's Wildman’s Pizza’s specialty‑python‑skin specialty-python-skin pizza and the documentary “The Python Hunt,” which follows participants and underscores both cultural interest and the public‑health caution. Hunt.” Detection methods continue to expand, with GPS‑collared GPS-collared possums, drones, thermal imaging, scout snakes snakes, and radio‑tracked radio-tracked males aiding hunters. Community engagement and prize incentives remain central to the multi‑year multi-year strategy aimed at curbing the invasive python population and safeguarding native ecosystems.

Versions

  1. 2026-08-10 18:22 UTC Florida python control persists, mercury warning
  2. 2026-08-07 19:12 UTC Florida python control persists, mercury warning
  3. 2026-08-06 00:38 UTC Florida expands python control, warns of mercury
  4. 2026-07-28 22:24 UTC Florida expands python control, warns of mercury
  5. 2026-07-28 22:24 UTC Florida expands Burmese python control program

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