2LT International News

MIAMI, Florida: At a competition to raise awareness about the threats pythons pose to the state’s ecology, a 19-year-old South Florida man, Matthew Concepcion, captured 28 of the invasive snakes in ten days.

He was among 1,000 participants from 32 states, Canada and Latvia who participated in the annual challenge, which removed 231 of the unwanted pythons from the wilderness, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a news release.

Concepcion was awarded the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize, courtesy of the Bergeron Everglades Foundation, while Dustin Crum won a $1,500 grand prize for removing the longest python, at just over 11 feet (3.3 meters).

Burmese pythons are not protected, except by Florida’s anti-cruelty law. Participants had to document that each snake was killed humanely.

Concepcion told the South Florida SunSentinel that he’s been hunting pythons for about five years, and typically looks for them at night, because that is when they’re on the move, using his vehicle lights to spot them.

Smaller snakes are so well camouflaged that he looks for their shadows cast by a flashlight beam, he told the newspaper. But larger snakes are easier to find.

“They will have a slightly purple tint to them. They’re really beautiful,” he noted.

Concepcion said he may use some of his earnings to buy a powerful lighting setup for his truck, which will help him spot more snakes.

“Our python hunters are passionate about what they do and care very much about Florida’s precious environment. We are removing record numbers of pythons and we’re going to keep at it,” South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Member Ron Bergeron said in a news release.