Overview
- This season conservation crews operating in roughly 517–518 square kilometers of Collier County removed just over 200 Burmese pythons weighing about 3.6–3.7 tonnes, a program high reported in mid-June.
- Teams located and interdicted more than 4,100 python eggs, a direct effort to break local breeding cycles and reduce future hatchling numbers.
- Detection relied on radio telemetry and a program of 40 marked male “finder” snakes that lead researchers to mating females and nests for targeted removal.
- Florida Fish and Wildlife classifies Burmese pythons as a prohibited species and allows them to be humanely killed under state anti-cruelty rules, which supports removal and research after capture.
- Pythons arrived in the region largely through pet releases, they prey on native mammals and birds, and managers say sustained, science-based removals are needed because full eradication across the landscape is unlikely.