Overview
- The 10-day Florida Python Challenge, held July 10–19, drew 907 participants who collectively removed 280 invasive Burmese pythons, organizers reported.
- Tom Rahill won the $10,000 ultimate grand prize after personally removing 96 pythons, all taken from Everglades National Park, setting a single-person event record.
- Prize money totaling about $24,000 was distributed across divisions, with Christina Kraus winning the professional most-pythons prize (36 snakes) and Rahm Levinson claiming the longest-python prize at 16 feet, 5 inches.
- FWC and partners said the Challenge has removed more than 1,600 pythons through these events and that FWC and contractor efforts have removed over 19,000 snakes in Florida since 2017, even as experts estimate 100,000 to 300,000 pythons may still live in the state.
- Organizers and partner agencies, including the South Florida Water Management District and the National Park Service, say the competition both directly reduces python numbers and boosts public engagement for ongoing control efforts, though officials caution it is only one tool in a larger management strategy.