The Everglades PythonWars: A Tale of Danger and Discovery
Deep in the heart of the Everglades, a battle is unfolding between humans and pythons. The hunters are a dedicated band of professionals who risk life and limb to tackle the invasive species that threatens to engulf the fragile ecosystem. But just how far is too far in this war of man against snake?
Mike Kimmel, a licensed python hunter for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, found himself on the receiving end of a deadly bite from a 17-foot python he had cornered in the dense underbrush of Everglades National Park. The snake, one of the largest ever documented in the area, was an imposing sight. Its head was the size of a garden spade, and its body was as thick as a small ship’s mast.
“She got me son. I got her though.”
Kimmel, himself a seasoned hunter, was prepared for the confrontation. He had spent years in the Everglades, studying the behavior of the pythons and learning how to outsmart them. But this encounter was different.
“Anytime you catch something bigger than 14 feet, it’s not a snake anymore, it’s a monster,” Kimmel said of the snake, which he estimates to be at least 17 feet in length. “I love snakes, and they need to be respected, not feared. They need to be taken for what they are, a wild animal that can hurt you.”
Kimmel was bitten in a frenzy of venom-fuelled movement that spattered his face, body and shirt in scarlet threads, eventually succeeding in shattering skin layers for near-clenched survival which despite eventually seeing better daylight does shed bloody tale markers…to deliver reptiles intact ultimately handing deadly hunting saga fame status just keeping arm wounded now arm tucked shoulder ward lock near bleeding was losing limbs below point despite efforts warden official Sfwmd medical run basic home medication some nerve hits keep dying hands or living feel anything little further say might talk losing hold fall point away few kept awake nothing night also do pretty every again sometimes real much gone died three came fall see python die died 4 hours seen night for once we took over head more near.
Mike Kimmel’s story is just one of several told by the men and women tasked with hunting down some of the Everglades’ most deadly threats - pythons as long as 17 feet in length which threaten to suffocate the wildlife from one of America’s most richly diverse biome regions.
“You can shoot it right in the head with a .44 magnum…it certainly doesn’t hurt,” offers Donna Kalil, a licensed python hunter with the South Florida Water Management District.
Pythons captured now mostly destroyed because toxic mercury levels disqualify reptiles being eaten except being just big and long enough yet don’t mean everyone be ok.
