Burmese pythons are both a nuisance and difficult to find in the Everglades region, but The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced that 68 pythons were killed during the closing days of the 2013 Python Challenge sponsored by state officials.
Wildlife officials told the CNN Wire that although the take was small, wildlife officials said that their main goal was to heighten public awareness of the invasive species.
"Thanks to the determination of Python Challenge competitors, we are able to gather invaluable information that will help refine and focus combined efforts to control pythons in the Everglades," commission executive director Nick Wiley told the CNN Wire.
Officials noted that there may be as many as 100,000 Burmese pythons living in swamps outside of Miami, whereas the state is home to about 1.3 million alligators.
"You can go out there for days and days and days and not see one python," snake hunter Justin Matthews said last month. "I don't care how much experience you have. It is going to take some luck."
In search of the pythons, hunters covered a million acres of swamp and sawgrass, according to officials.
The pythons, which first appeared in the Everglades in 1979, were likely released by owners when they got too large to handle.
They have no natural predators, but since they have appeared, the populations of other species have dramatically decreased. Rabbits and foxes have disappeared, and raccoon, opossum and bobcat populations have dropped by as much as 99 percent, researchers reported last year. The U.S. has banned the importation of Burmese pythons, and three other exotic snake species and their eggs.
The pythons can run to double-digit lengths, more than the average snake that can only run six to nine feet, University of Florida wildlife ecologist Frank Mazzotti told the CNN News Wire.
State officials recommended decapitating the snakes with a machete, or shooting them in the head.
Hunter Brian Barrows of Fort Myers won a $1,500 grand prize in the amateur category for harvesting six pythons. Ruben Ramirez of Miami took the professional title for bagging 18 of the creatures.
Paul Shannon of Lehigh Acres won $1,000 for the longest python -- 14 feet, three inches.
The competition ran from Jan. 12 to Feb. 10, and 1,600 people registered, hoping to win prizes of up to $1,500.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
