Registration now open for 2022 Florida Python Challenge, to be held Aug. 5-14
Miami, Florida - On June 16, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened, and the annual 10-day event will be held August 5-14, 2022. Members of the public can now take the required online training and register to compete to win thousands of dollars in prizes while removing invasive Burmese pythons from the wild. The competition is open to both professional and novice participants.
Visit FLPythonChallenge.org to register for the competition, take the online training, register for optional in-person trainings, learn more about Burmese pythons and the unique Everglades ecosystem, and find resources for planning your trip to South Florida to participate in the Florida Python Challenge.
Participants in the 2021 Florida Python Challenge removed 223 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades, more than double the number that was removed in 2020. Over 600 people from 25 states registered to take part in the 10-day competition in 2021.
Burmese pythons are not native to Florida and negatively impact native species. They are found primarily in and around the Everglades ecosystem in south Florida, where they prey on birds, mammals, and other reptiles. A female Burmese python may lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time. More than 16,000 Burmese pythons have been removed since 2000. For more information on Burmese pythons, visit MyFWC.com/Python.
Florida's Freedom First budget, recently signed by the Governor, makes a record investment of up to $3 million for python removal efforts, including to support research and development of innovative technologies that detect and remove invasive pythons. This includes the development of near-infrared cameras that better detect pythons.
Since 2019, Florida has taken unprecedented action to remove pythons in Florida: Governor DeSantis directed FWC and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to allow for the removal of invasive Burmese pythons from all state parks. The agencies entered into an agreement that resulted in an additional 134,648 acres of land that are now accessible for python removal. Governor DeSantis announced the U.S. Department of the Interior granted Florida’s request to increase access to federal lands for python removal, particularly within the Big Cypress National Preserve. In addition to python removal efforts on public lands, pythons can also be humanely killed on private lands at any time with landowner permission and no permit or hunting license required, and the FWC encourages people to remove and kill pythons from private lands, whenever possible.