This yr’s Florida Python Challenge drew greater than 1,000 hunters right down to the Everglades. Coming up tops because the grand-prize winners have been a boy, his grandpa and his dad, who joke they’re simply the “crazy snake enthusiasts who like to get outdoors.”
Dominic Hobbs, 12, has been becoming a member of his father, Paul Hobbs, and grandfather, Tom Hobbs, for snake hunts since he was solely within the single digits.
“I don’t get nervous,” Dominic Hobbs stated. “I get overly excited.”
This yr, they’re walking away with the grand prize of $10,000 for catching the very best variety of snakes, 20.
The Florida Python Challenge ended Aug. 13, and the state introduced the winners Friday. The Hobbs household takes a 16-hour highway journey from Tennessee, their home state, to Florida’s Everglades to seize the pythons.
“It’s lifetime memories, very precious memories,” Paul Hobbs stated.
The 20 snakes the Hobbs caught have been hatchlings, they stated.
Last yr, the grand prize winner caught 28 snakes.
Overall, this yr’s problem wrangled in a complete of 209 snakes from 1,050 registered opponents from 35 states and one registrant from Belgium.
The grand-prize runner-up, Ronald Kiger, took home $7,500 for eradicating 14 pythons, and the navy class winner, Justin Morgan, took home $2,500 for eradicating seven pythons. Amy Siewe caught the longest python this yr at practically 11 toes, and she’s going to take home $1,000.
This marked the state’s sixth python problem. The state first supplied the competition in 2013, however it hasn’t been held yearly.
The whole variety of pythons caught from challenges alone now hits practically 1,000, which doesn’t account for the pythons captured by year-round hunters.
In the previous 5 years, greater than 11,000 pythons have been faraway from the Everglades, Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez stated. This determine comes from quite a lot of state efforts, not simply the problem.
“That goal is just a small fraction of what we need to keep on doing,” she stated.
Núñez spoke earlier than a packed room Friday morning, recalling a promise she and Gov. Ron DeSantis made after they have been first elected to prioritize conservation, calling for $2.5 billion to be invested into these efforts, with $3.3 billion being secured as a substitute.
“That just shows the commitment not only to conserving the environment but specifically for Everglades restoration and protection of water resources,” she stated.
Núñez stated the state’s Framework for Freedom price range consists of greater than $695 million for Everglades restoration initiatives.
“We are going to protect Florida’s natural resources for future generations,” she stated. “I know all of you that are here share that goal.”
The python problem is extra of a solution to increase consciousness about how damaging pythons are to the Everglades, fairly than creating an precise dent within the inhabitants. Tens of hundreds of those serpents are estimated to slither by way of the realm, and the reptile’s vary is just increasing.
“Alligator” Ron Bergeron, a South Florida Water Management District board member behind the Bergeron Everglades basis, was celebrating not solely the top of the problem, however his eightieth birthday, with remarks and cake through the occasion.
“We remove this invasive snake out of our environment, and we have a quality of life for future generations,” he stated. “Long live the Everglades.”
The Hobbs household can be again subsequent yr, they stated.
“We’re still looking for the 20-footer,” Paul Hobbs stated.
