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The Cool Down on MSN
Florida prepares next massive python hunt as Everglades invasion worsens
The annual 10-day conservation competition is focused on removing invasive Burmese pythons from public lands in South Florida.
Chip Chick on MSN
Scientists are using possums fitted with GPS-tracking collars to take down pythons in Florida
For decades, the state of Florida has faced a python problem. Burmese pythons were introduced into the Everglades through the exotic pet trade in the 1970s. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the first wild Burmese python in South Florida was documented in Everglades National Park in 1979.
The collars send a signal to researchers after a opossum is eaten, leading to the snake's location
Some of Florida’s opossums may soon start dying for a noble cause. A few select marsupials fitted with tracking collars may begin to lead scientists to invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) slithering through the Everglades.
A professional python hunter in the Florida Everglades recently stumbled upon what can only be described as the ultimate nightmare buffet: two massive, neighboring nests packed with a combined total of roughly 120 Burmese python eggs.
Every month the South Florida Water Management District challenges contracted hunters to eliminate as many of the invasive snakes as they can.