NAPLES, Fla. — Residents of southern Florida are very familiar with the devastating effects of Burmese pythons in the Everglades.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida announced Monday the record-breaking removal of 6,300 pounds of these invasive snakes in five months.
The nonprofit environmental organization said the pythons were captured from a 200-square-mile area in Southwest Florida during breeding season, which ran from November 2024 to April 2025.
The conservancy said their group has now removed 20 tons of the snakes from this area of Southwest Florida since their efforts began in 2013.
"We have been on the front line of the invasive python battle for more than a decade," said Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist and Conservancy Science Project manager, who oversees the python program. "Removing more than 40,000 pounds of snake, carried out through some of Florida's unrelenting wildlife habitats, is a heavy-lifting assignment. But, through years of dedicated research, we've developed science-based methods to track this apex predator more effectively and mitigate its damage to our native wildlife population."
HOW DO THEY FIND THE SNAKES?
The group said they use a science-based approach to locate and capture the invasive species.
Using radio telemetry and tagged male pythons known as "scout snakes," their team currently tracks 40 pythons. These so-called "scout snakes" help locate reproductive pythons during the breeding season. Conservancy staff then monitors the "scout snakes" across the 200-square-mile area of public and private land from Naples through the western Everglades.
The conservancy is encouraged by this scientific approach since long-term monitoring has indicated that these "scout snakes" increasingly struggle to find mates, or the females they find are smaller.
Because of their efforts, the agency said its team has stopped about 20,000 python eggs from hatching since 2013.
"The Burmese python is decimating native wildlife across their invaded range. Here at the Conservancy, we also rehabilitate thousands of injured native animals in the von Arx Wildlife Hospital and release them back into the wild each year. The python team's work of reducing the local population of the invasive snake allows our native wildlife safer conditions to recover," said Rob Moher, the president and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
The Conservancy said its scientists have recognized for capturing the largest female python ever documented to date, measuring 18 feet long and weighing 215 pounds, as well as the largest male python on record at 16 feet and 140 pounds.
Headquartered in Naples, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida has worked to protect water, land and wildlife in Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties for more than 60 years.
Burmese python observations can be reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Exotic Species Hotline at 888-Ive-Got1 (483-4681).
