Florida's "conservation through competition" continued this year as nearly 1,000 people traveled from 32 states, Canada, and Latvia to participate in the annual Florida Python Challenge. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officially announced that people removed 231 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades during the competition, which ran for ten days last August and happens yearly. Now that the Commission has released the 2022 python challenge results, we can get an idea of the event's impact.
In the end, it was 19-year-old Matthew Concepcion and his 28 captured snakes that won the $10,000 ultimate grand prize of the competition. The Bergeron Everglades Foundation provided the prize money. South Florida Water Management District Governing Board member Ron Bergeron praised Concepcion's efforts in an FWC press release and thanked all the participants for clearing the invasive snakes from Florida's swamps.
"Our python hunters are passionate about what they do and care very much about Florida's precious environment. We are removing record numbers of pythons, and we're going to keep at it," Bergeron said.
The $10,000 prize isn't the only one awarded among the Python Challenge results. The competition is divided into professional and novice categories, with prizes for the most pythons and the longest captured. Dustin Crum won the professional category with an 11-foot, 0.24-inch specimen, while Jeffery Lince won the novice category with a 9-foot, 10.68-inch serpent. Both earned a cool $1,500 for capturing the snakes.
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The winner for most pythons by a professional was Joaquin Vila who captured 15 snakes, and Bruce Williams won the novice category with ten. Their efforts earned them $2,500 each. The second-place winners for longest and most pythons earned $750 each for their captured snakes.
The Python Challenge also has a unique military and veteran category. Kenne Helm was the winner for the most pythons in that category and the recipient of $2,000. The $1,000 prize for the longest python in the class went to G. Gerdes with a 7-foot, 6.72-inch snake.
The competition seems to be becoming more popular with each passing year as more people take up the fight against the invasive pythons, which compete with native predators for the same found sources. They also prey upon native birds and other animals. See the Florida Python Challenge website for more information on this unique, annual challenge.
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