Hundreds of Giant Burmese Pythons Killed in Everglades: 'Destructive Force'

Hundreds of giant Burmese pythons have been killed in the Florida Everglades in the annual hunting challenge.

A total of 231 invasive Burmese pythons were removed in total from the Florida ecosystem during the 10-day challenge in August, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced.

Burmese pythons are an invasive species in Florida. They are native to Asia, but they can also survive in Florida's subtropical climate.

The snakes were first introduced to the environment in the 1970s—likely as exotic pets released into the wild. Ever since, they have been extremely destructive to the native ecosystem, and their population is only increasing.

The hunt, which is managed by the FWC, is a yearly effort to remove as many of the snakes from the ecosystem as possible.

In total, nearly 1,000 participants across 32 states took part in the challenge.

One of them was Stephen Gauta, who took part in the challenge alongside his cousin, Jake Waleri.

"The challenge interests me because I love getting outdoors and learning more about the wildlife in south Florida," Gauta told Newsweek. "Since these pythons are such a destructive force I feel like it's my responsibility to go and take part in a the python challenge to give our native wildlife a fighting chance."

The Burmese pythons feast on much of Florida's native wildlife, such as bobcats and deer.

There are many techniques hunters use to catch the pythons.

Gauta said he and fellow hunters road cruise, meaning they drive slowly along the shoulder of roads with bright lights, look around the swamp.

Matthew Concepcion won the prize for the most pythons removed, having hunted a total of 28 snakes.

Dustin Crum won the prize for the biggest python removed, having captured a snake measuring 11 feet and 24 inches.

"Once again, the Florida Python Challenge® has yielded impressive results with hundreds of invasive pythons being removed from the wild," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a press release. "Removing these snakes is one of the many efforts we are employing to restore and maintain the Everglades ecosystem."

Burmese pythons are among the largest snake species in the world.

On average, they reach about 10 to 16 feet. One of the biggest ever found was captured in the Everglades earlier this year. The huge snake measured nearly 18 feet in length, and was carrying 122 eggs.

Large pythons, which are often breeding females, are a particularly desirable catch in the challenge. This is because they are often carrying a lot of eggs.

After its capture, a necropsy found that the female snake had hoof cores in the digestive tract, meaning her last meal was likely a white tailed deer—one of Florida's native species.