Florida Everglades To Host Python-Killing Contest

The area is overrun with Burmese pythons that are destroying the local eco-system.

1. Burmese pythons have overrun the Florida everglades, eating smaller species and throwing off the balance of the local ecosystem there.

Photo originally taken February 22, 2010.

Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

2. This Saturday is the opening of the 2013 Python Challenge, a python-killing marathon, offering prizes of $1,000 for catching the longest snakes and $1,500 for catching the most.

Photo originally taken September 16, 2009.

Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

3. The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that nearly 400 people have signed up for the Challenge already.

Photo originally taken February 22, 2010.

Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

4. Participants over the age of 18 do not need hunting licenses or have any experience with snakes.

Photo originally taken May 28, 2009.

Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

5. The Burmese pythons originally entered the ecosystem there through exotic pet trade.

Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

6. Many experts agree that if enough pythons were eliminated from the area, it could in fact fix some of the damage done to the local environment.

Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

7. The Florida Wildlife Commission’s recommended killing method is a bullet or shotgun blast to the head, or the use of captive bolt, a device used in slaughterhouses that drives a metal shaft into the brain.

Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

The Simpsons eerily predicted this very problem 20 years ago in their episode “Whacking Day”:

Source: gifsoup.com

(Sources: My Fox Tampa Bay, NY Daily News, Orlanda Sentinel)