Burmese python, longer than an African elephant’s height, captured in Collier County

Creatures lurking in the Florida wilderness are longer than an African elephant is tall, and while many would run away, others go looking.

According to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, using a scout python, hunters caught a massive 16-foot-long, 120-pound Burmese python during a February hunt.

According to the United States Geological Survey, female Burmese pythons grow larger than males. So, when the Conservancy team tracks male pythons, they are able to find the larger females during breeding season.

By tracking Ronin, a 12-foot-long snake also known by the Conservancy as the Most Valuable Python (MVP), they found the 16-foot female snake. Biologists have been tracking Ronin for more than six years.

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Nearing a vegetation-strewn canal, biologists spotted a python floating among the foliage on the water’s edge.

Suddenly, the team came face to face with a Burmese python that was longer than a rhino, a walrus and a hippo.

Exhilarated, one of the team members yelled out, “It looks big … bigger than Ronin!” according to the conservancy’s release on the find.

Without hesitating, the team began wrangling the behemoth. With his boot, biologist Ian Bartszek pinned the head of the 16-footer.

However, nearly every pound of this 120-pound constrictor is muscle. It could not be contained by one person.

Next, biologist Ian Easterling pounced on the python to restrain the animal.

Then came the python’s counterattack. Thrashing its body through the murky canal, the python fought back with force.

“She was upset and thrashed around, taking all hands to restrain her,” said Bartoszek.

The biologists were in knee-deep water, barely holding on to the slippery 120 pounds of python sliding through their hands. They needed backup.

That’s when John Kukk, a board member for the conservancy, dashed down the bank, grabbing the python by the tail. It took three people out of breath and completely exhausted to get the snake under control.

“Her humane removal from the ecosystem will keep an additional 50 invasive pythons from hatching this season and many more over future years. To date, the team has removed over 1,200 pythons weighing over 33,000 pounds from Collier County,” said the Conservancy of SWFL.

According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Burmese pythons have devastated native wildlife throughout Florida. The species was added to Florida’s prohibited species list in April 2021.

The Florida Python Challenge is one way the state is trying to contain the species’ expansion.

The FWC website says if you think you see a Burmese python, take a picture, write down or remember your location and report the sighting by calling the Exotic Species Hotline at 888-483-4681 or report it online by clicking here.

Click here for more information on the invasive python.