Are you getting bored with your usual big game hunting routine? Do you have snake-catching experience and a shotgun? Well, the Everglades National Park has a job coming for you!
According to the Sun Sentinal, the park has announced that they will be doubling down on their efforts to control the Burmese python population. For the first time ever, they will allow state-contracted hunters to hunt the snakes inside park boundaries. They are also allowing the use of shotguns. “We’ve gotten to the point where we’ve realized that this is a significant problem that requires us to be open-minded and flexible in the way that we approach it,” said Pedro Ramos, superintendent of Everglades National Park.
Photo Credit: South Florida Water Management District
The snakes, which are native to southern Asia, were introduced to the ecosystem through the exotic pet industry. “The population of mammals, small mammals in particular, in Everglades National Park, has essentially collapsed,” Ramos said. “We have not seen a marsh rabbit, for example, in years, and we attribute that to the presence of Burmese pythons in the park.”
The new python hunt will not be like a standard hunt, though.
“It’s important to note that this is not a hunt that we’re introducing in Everglades National Park,” Ramos said. “We’re inviting people that are interested in helping us tackle this problem come into the park and help us remove as many of these animals as we can out of the landscape.”
The park has not opened up applications yet, but they are looking for people with snake-catching experience. They also need to be free of wildlife violations and be willing to take a training class. The gig pays between $8.25 and $15 an hour plus $50 for each snake, $25 for every foot of length beyond four feet, and $200 for each python nest.
Would you hunt pythons in the Everglades?
