tangled in the thick brush of florida’s most well-known national park, the everglades, slithers a foreign creature that has been disrupting the ecosystem in various ways for decades — the burmese python. 

as burmese pythons are the greatest ecological threat to the south florida region, the state of florida has listed them as a prohibited reptile and created incentives to hunt them, hoping locals will traverse their own backyard for the foreign reptiles. from the lack of natural predators for the eco-imbalancing constrictors a new profession was born; a python bounty hunter, more formally known as a python elimination specialist. 

donna kalil, a veteran python hunter, has caught 1,026 burmese pythons since she began hunting 11 years ago.

kalil entered the florida python challenge for the first time in 2013, which is a 10-day competition that challenges participants to remove as many pythons as possible. she’s participated every year since, and captured 19 snakes in 2024, receiving the most pythons prize for professional python hunters. 

for context, burmese pythons are in the top 10 largest snakes in the world. they’re native to south asia, which means they have no natural predators in north america and have only grown in population and size since their arrival.   

this allows them to eat whatever they can. when a snake gets larger “it’s just us and alligators that can take care of it,” kalil said.

the conservancy of south florida (csf) published a study in october 2024 focusing on floridian pythons and their capacity for food, which developed researchers’ understanding of the amount a burmese python can digest.

dr. bruce jayne, an author of the study and professor of biological sciences at the university of cincinnati said, “to me, for a long time, what has not been obvious is that clearly, big pythons can eat very big prey. but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re eating as big prey as they possibly could.”

the first burmese python was documented in florida in 1979, according to the national park service. 

there is debate that hurricane andrew, in august 1992, is the reason why burmese pythons are so rampant and established their population in the everglades. during the category 5 storm, a breeding facility was destroyed, releasing countless snakes into the nearby swamps, according to a publication by alpha kappa delta, the international sociology honor society.

however, the pet trade also heightened in america around the time the first burmese python was found in 1979, according to the world animal protection. 

nowadays, python hunters are often called for rapid response, such as removing a snake from someone’s yard or when spotted on the side of the road. these removal agents typically locate pythons based on trends they have seen from previous years.

once spotted, “you have to approach it from behind, quietly, slowly, try not to make it feel threatened, which is key,” kalil said. 

kalil is often within half a foot of a python when she lunges to catch the snakes. first they grab them underneath the head, “then you fight them until they don’t have any fight left within them.”

once the pythons settle down, hunters collect data about the snake such as its length, weight, where it was captured, and when. kalil has now captured around 900 pythons for the program alone.

then, kalil brings the burmese python to her home while it’s still alive, which requires specific permits for live transport. she places them in a cooler overnight to put them into a deep sleep, or brumation. the next day she ethically euthanizes them.

“when you’re one on one with a monster, that’s a whole different story than getting a shotgun and shooting it from 10 ft away,” kalil said. “a lot of people don’t understand that part until they sign up.”

fwc’s ethical guidelines for killing methods of invasive reptiles include the animal first losing consciousness immediately, “then destroying the animal’s brain by ‘pithing’ which prevents the animal from regaining consciousness.”

once kalil euthanizes the python, she discards the corpse, tans and sells the snakeskin, or in rare cases prepares it as food, despite its high mercury concentration. 

“i take my chances and maybe chop it up and put it on a pizza or something and serve it to guests, because they always kind of get a kick out of that,” she said. “but it’s not on my menu.”

with ever-evolving personal goals, including catching 1,000 pythons, kalil caught her heaviest snake to date on dec. 9, 2024. it weighed more than her at 135 pounds, and was 14 feet long. 

the longest python found in florida was in july 2023 at 19 feet, according to kim luciani for the naples daily news, and the heaviest python discovered in florida was 215 pounds in december 2021. 

burmese pythons have already negatively affected mammal populations across southern florida despite only dwelling in the everglades for less than 50 years. between 1997-2012, the everglades’ raccoon population declined by 99.3%, opossums by 98.9%, and bobcats by 87.5% according to the united states geological survey. 

“every single snake is different, and every single snake can get away from you until you’ve got it in the pack, and that’s where my adrenaline shows up,” kalil said. “i know for certain every time i remove a python, no matter what size it is, it’s making a positive difference to the environment.”

there is no estimate of how many burmese pythons are roaming the everglades. “it could be tens of thousands, or it could be hundreds of thousands,” said rory feeney, the bureau chief of land resources at the south florida water management district. 

biologist ian easterling with csf said, “there are a lot of people that are trying to collect information on pythons. it’s just a matter of getting the entire community in south florida onboard.”

ultimately, removing burmese pythons from south florida is going to be a long-winded effort between the community, hunters, biologists, and the state of florida. 

“it’s up to us, we caused the problem and we have to try to fix it,” kalil said.