I like snakes ....... i could not kill any animal....... not my thing ......as i am an animal lover ....but they are apparently........ invasive in florida........ and eating everything ......like feral hogs ......you know..... i like pigs too........ ....but i could not hurt one......... a human being yes ...... they know better!!!!!!!....... and i know a fucking lot ......... i could hurt ....especially living in south Florida........ its packed with servile .......repugnant ......retarded /goat raping .....redneck .......inbred ......... hillbilly.......... bastard's .......and i am being nice ........however there are some people that will take care of the problem ...i wished there were hunters that got rid of stupid fucking people too.......what a great world it would be .........
Meet the female python hunter taking 2nd place for most snakes caught in Florida challenge
Veteran python hunter Donna Kalil was optimistic this year she would take home the $10,000 grand prize in the 2024 Florida Python Challenge.
Kalil, a contract hunter with the South Florida Water Management District, is an enthusiastic snake chaser who has faced off with an estimated 18-footer in the dark, has been bitten several times, and was once yanked off a levee by a 13-foot python that left her tumbling onto her chin. She never let go of the snake, however.
"I like to say I do a dangerous thing in a very careful way," she said in a 2020 interview with The Palm Beach Post.
Her recipes for cooking with python meat and python eggs are educational, if not always appealing to every palate. (The Florida Department of Health recommends against eating python because of high mercury levels.)
While she has participated in every Python Challenge since 2013, she said she can spend as much time chatting with fellow hunters and helping novices as she does actually hunting.
This year, she asked her volunteer helpers if they had the ardor to take the top spot. They were eager to do so.
Meet Donna Kalil, the veteran python hunter, who has caught many Burmese snakes through the years in the annual Florida hunt
"I went out every night and I actually tried to win it this time," Kalil said. "It's a chess game, not checkers. You really have to plan your moves. It's a chess game, and then it's like whack-a-mole."
Kalil ended up with 19 snakes, a bounty that several hunters interviewed ahead of Tuesday's announcement said they thought may be enough to snag the $10,000. She said she didn't know of anyone who had wrangled more.
But she lost by a slim margin to Ronald Kiger of Marion County, who caught 20 Burmese pythons during the contest that ran Aug. 9 through. Aug. 18.
Kalil didn't go home empty handed. She won $2,500 for bringing in the most snakes in the professional category after Kiger.
In total, 857 participants competed in the 2024 snake hunt challenge from 33 states and Canada. They removed 195 pythons.
Participants hunted in designated areas that stretch from western Palm Beach County to the Tamiami Trail in the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area. Other management areas included in the Python Challenge are Holey Land, Rotenberger and Southern Glades.
Kalil's longest snake this year was 12 feet, 1 inch. She said she typically had two volunteers with her each night, including a friend from Canada.
"It was a good challenge," she said. "You get tired, it's a push for sure."
What is the Florida Python Challenge?
The Florida Python Challenge is a python removal competition that happens in August. Participants have nine days to kill as many Burmese pythons as possible. The 2024 python removal competition begins at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 9 and ends at 5 p.m. on Aug. 18. The competition helps protect the Everglades habitat and all its native animals by removing the invasive Burmese pythons.
Everything to know: Florida Python Challenge, the snake hunt with a cult-like following
What were the prizes for the 2024 Florida Python Challenge?
The $10,000 grand prize is awarded to the participant who removes the most snakes as part of the competition. There are also three competition categories including professional, novice and military. Each category includes a $2,500 price for most pythons caught, $1,500 for the second-highest number of pythons caught and $1,000 for the longest python.
Participants may only win one prize, so if someone wins two, the person will be awarded the prize of the highest value and the next qualifying hunter will win the remaining prize.
Why hunt Burmese pythons?
Florida earnestly began hunting pythons in about 2012. It was the first year of the challenge and the same year a study in Everglades National Park suggested pythons were responsible for a decline of 85% to 100% of the population of medium-sized furry animals, such as raccoons and rabbits.
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