Overview
- FWC says 1,022 Burmese pythons were removed from May through July 2025 versus 343 in the same period in 2024, including 748 in July compared with 235 a year earlier.
- State leaders say PATRIC met its Year 2 objectives 18 months early after transitioning to Inversa on May 1, citing faster removals and streamlined operations.
- Inversa now oversees roughly 50 professional hunters and pays for verified skins in addition to state compensation, which officials say has reduced FWC administrative workload and raised hunter pay.
- Florida allocated $2 million in 2025 for python removal, and Gov. Ron DeSantis urged the Legislature to maintain annual funding to sustain the program.
- Critics caution that leather market incentives could invite abuse, while Inversa says hunters use a GPS-enabled app for origin verification and the company touts new aerial detection and predictive AI tools.