Python hunt pays minimum wage, bonuses for length
Water district wants to ‘tap into resources not previously used.’
Hunting py thons now pays minimum wage with the opportunity for length-based bonuses.
In an effort to reduce the population of invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades, the South Florida Water Management District announced an experimental program Thursday that offers $8.10 an hour, plus incentives starting at $50 for a 4-foot-long snake and $25 for each additional foot above that.
A snake found guarding a nest with eggs is worth an additional $100.
Burmese pythons are at the top of the food chain in the Everglades, and researchers fear they are spreading. In September, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced python hatchlings were found in Key Largo, while a 10-foot python was found on a levee at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County.
“This is a two-month pilot program, so we don’t anticipate eradication, but we want to tap into resources not previously used,” said Rory Feeney, the water management district’s bureau chief for land resources. “We want to see how successful an incentivized program is.” A python attacks an alligator in an epic struggle: watch video at
Registration begins today, with 25 participants to be chosen for the April 1 through June 1 hunt.
Each participant can be accompanied by up to three volunteers.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has sponsored a similar program called the Python Challenge, but that was a contest with winners taking home prizes up to $5,000 depending on the number of pythons killed and length.
Last year, more than 1,000 peo- ple from 29 states registered for the challenge, which netted 106 snakes, including one that was 15 feet long.
But estimates of how many pythons are in the Everglades are in the tens of thousands and the damage they are doing to native species is alarming. In December, researchers found that a 15-foot female python had eaten three white-tailed deer in the 90 days before capture.
A Palm Beach Post video of a python attacking an alligator in Big Cypress National Preserve in December drew international attention to the issue and was