An impromptu group of hunters in the Florida Everglades captured a massive Burmese python, the second-heaviest snake ever caught in the state.
The hunters who were strangers were all in the Big Cypress National Preserve Friday when they saw the behemoth female snake crossing a road, according to multiple media reports.
At 17 feet and 2 inches long and weighing 198 pounds, it is the second-heaviest snake ever caught in Florida, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida confirmed to CBS News.
“It was more than a snake, it was a monster. We were strangers, but the five of us knew we had to capture this thing,” conservationist Mike Elfenbein, who was there with his son, told CBS News on Tuesday.
The five men involved — Mr. Elfenbein, his son Cole, and three other hunters, Trey Barber, Carter Gavlock and Holden Hunter — took 45 minutes to wrangle the python, which kept twisting and lifting itself in an attempt to escape.
“We’d just met two random people that were willing to jump on a dinosaur-of-a-snake. Once we had her under control, we were just cracking beers and hanging out. It was like we won a football game,” Mr. Gavlock told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Mr. Elfenbein called professional python hunter Amy Siewe to come out and euthanize the serpent. She then took it to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida to be measured.
“I’m telling you it is the fattest snake I’ve ever seen in my life. It was insane,” Ms. Siewe told the Sun Sentinel. “Between the deer and the pigs, they’re eating pretty well out there in Big Cypress.”
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in Florida, preying on native animals including alligators as well as deer, taking food away from the endangered Florida panther.
“Burmese pythons are impacting Florida’s native wildlife at an incredible scale. This 198 pound invasive snake had the remains of white-tailed deer hooves in its stomach,” Conservancy of Southwest Florida Environmental Science Coordinator Ian Bartoszek told the Naples Daily News.
The heaviest snake ever caught in Florida was 215 pounds, 18 feet long, according to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
In July, another pair of hunters brought in a female snake that was 19 feet and 4 inches long, the longest Burmese python ever caught in Florida.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.