Florida man captures record 17-foot python
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Reporting from Miami — Officials say a Florida trapper has captured a record-setting python as part of a program to remove the invasive species from the Everglades.
The South Florida Water Management District reported that Kyle Penniston captured a 17-foot, 5-inch female Burmese python while hunting on district lands in Miami-Dade County.
Officials say the snake weighed in at 120 pounds . It’s the third one caught as part of the Python Elimination Program that measured more than 17 feet.
Python hunters have eliminated 1,859 of the snakes on district lands. Penniston ranks second among the hunters, having eliminated 235 snakes. Brian Hargrove has dispatched the most — 257.
Officials say invasive Burmese pythons have no natural predators in the Everglades ecosystem and have decimated native wildlife populations.
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