A hunter in Florida caught 96 invasive snakes in just ten days to win a major competition. Tom Rahill won first place and a $10,000 prize in the annual Florida Python Challenge.
Rahill is a professional python hunter. He also runs SwampApes, a group that takes military veterans with PTSD into the wetlands to hunt snakes. During the contest, Rahill helped a veteran catch a large python before searching deeper in the Everglades National Park to find dozens more.
This year, 907 people from 30 US states, Canada, and Vietnam joined the 10-day event in July. Together, the participants removed 280 Burmese pythons. Another participant, Rahm Levinson, won $1,000 for catching the longest snake, which measured 16 feet and 5 inches (5 meters).
Burmese pythons come from South-East Asia. They became a big problem in the Everglades during the 1990s. The large snakes eat native animals and hurt the local environment. Female pythons can lay up to 100 eggs every year, so their population grows very fast.
Officials say the annual contest helps protect local wildlife. Since 2017, participants have removed more than 1,600 pythons during these events.