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Champion snake hunter wins $10k in python challenge

Winner captured 28 pythons

FILE - A Burmese python is held during a safe capture demonstration on June 16, 2022, in Miami. More than 800 competitors will be trudging through the Florida Everglades for the next eight days, in search of invasive Burmese pythons that will bring in thousands of dollars in prize money. The python hunt officially began Friday, Aug. 5, and runs through Aug. 15. Officials who gathered in Miami to kick off the annual campaign say it's significant because the non native snakes are killing off birds and mammals in the Everglades ecosystem. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File) (Lynne Sladky, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The 2022 Florida Python Challenge names its winners as the competition comes to a close.

Matthew Concepcion removed 28 Burmese pythons, bringing home the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize courtesy of the Bergeron Everglades Foundation.

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Dustin Crum won a $1,500 prize for the longest python, measuring 11-feet and 0.24 inches.

The Florida Everglades was the big winner. 231 invasive Burmese pythons were removed from the Everglades during the nearly 10-day competition.

“Once again, the Florida Python Challenge has yielded impressive results with hundreds of invasive pythons being removed from the wild,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Removing these snakes is one of the many efforts we are employing to restore and maintain the Everglades ecosystem.”

Nearly 1,000 participants from 32 states, Canada and Latvia came together to remove hundreds of Burmese pythons from South Florida

Visit FlPythonChallenge.org. for more information.


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