No guns: Legal ways to kill a Burmese python in Florida Python Challenge

The Florida Python Challenge is fast approaching, when hunters can sign up to euthanize as many invasive Burmese pythons as possible in 10 days to help protect the Everglades (and potentially win up to $10,000). But keep your gun holstered and your AR-15 at home.

Burmese pythons — large, nonvenomous constrictor snakes — are native to South Asia but since they were introduced to Florida they have posed a serious threat to wildlife. Burmese pythons reproduce in great numbers, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and eat anything from eggs to small deer.

A 2012 study suggested that in Everglades National Park, pythons were responsible for a decline of 85% to 100% of the population of medium-sized animals such as raccoons and rabbits.

To help control this, every year the state encourages hunters to thin the Burmese snake population with a competition and prizes. But the snakes must be killed humanely and guns are prohibited. So are using dogs, drones, traps and off-road vehicles, or killing snakes that are not Burmese pythons.

What is the Florida Python Challenge?

The Florida Python Challenge is a python removal competition held every year since 2013 to increase awareness of the invasive species and keep the populations down. The 10-day event takes place in 10 FWC-managed areas in South Florida, you can't kill them in your backyard and count them in your numbers.

When is the Florida Python Challenge?

The Florida Python Challenge is a 10-day event, running from 12:01 a.m. Friday, Aug. 9, running through 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug, 18.

Prizes are awarded for most pythons removed and longest python removed in different categories such as professionals, novices and the military. The big prize is $10,000 for the participant in any category who removes the most pythons.

There were 209 snakes caught during last year's challenge.

How do I register for the Florida Python Challenge?

To compete in the Florida Python Challenge, you must read the rules, take the required online training, and then register at flpythonchallenge.org. You must keep a copy of your registration confirmation email (print or digital) with you at all times if you're out removing pythons for the competition.

Can I use a gun to kill snakes during the Florida Python Challenge?

No. There is no established firearm season during the time of the event. The use of firearms is prohibited.

How do you kill snakes humanely in the Florida Python Challenge?

In the competition, Burmese pythons must be humanely killed. Novices must kill them immediately at the place they were caught. This species is not protected in Florida but anti-cruelty laws still apply.

The required method is a two-step process:

• Target the brain: Use a tool such as a bolt stunner, air gun or hammer directly between the eyes and jawbone, where the brain is, to cause the python to lose consciousness.
• Destroy the brain: Immediately and substantially destroy the python's brain and brainstem by "pithing" or inserting a small rod like a screwdriver, pike or pick into the cranial cavity moving it deliberately in several directions.

You may decapitate Burmese pythons between these steps if done as part of a 3-step method recommended by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) but you must still render them unconscious first and pith them afterward.

Anyone found to have inhumanely killed a python will be disqualified from the competition.