As part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s and the South Florida Water Management District’s Python Elimination Program, the Florida Python Challenge hosted an event called the Python Bowl, which offers cash prizes to hunters who eliminate members of the invasive snake species from the Everglades.
Although in past years the event was held every three years, the 2020 Python Bowl began the new tradition of hosting it annually, according to the Miami Herald.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis helped out, holding a python skin football while he spoke at a December event promoting for the 2020 Python Bowl, the Miami Herald reports.
But the event isn’t just for Floridians. CNN reports more than 750 hunters from 20 different states participated this year. While the event is mostly designed to raise awareness, hunters captured 80 pythons in just 10 days, according to The Associated Press.
Pro grand-prize winner, Mike Kimmel, caught eight of those pythons just on his own, Fox News reports. His efforts were rewarded with an ATV worth more than $6,000.
The other pro grand-prize winner was Tom Rahill, who won $2,000 for catching a 62-pound snake, the heaviest of the competition, and another $2,000 for catching the Python Bowl’s longest victim at 12 feet 7 inches.
The competition also had a separate category for rookie hunters, which was won by Kristian Hernandez for capturing six pythons, one of which measured more than 11.5 feet. Hernandez received an ATV and $2,000 in cash.
But, according to CNN, those 80 pythons won’t be missed much, as the Everglades is home to tens of thousands of them.
Burmese pythons are considered one of most worrisome invasive species in the Everglades, and, according to USGS, since they have been introduced in the area, populations of raccoons, opossums and bobcats have been decimated. Some populations, such as certain species of rabbits and foxes, have completely disappeared.