The Python Hunt

I have all the lights charged.

All right.

You brought the pillowcases?

Yeah, they're in the back.

You know everyone's out here

has got different motives.

Oh, chameleon.

Lot of people just want to kill shit.

But to me, I'm just like playing Pokemon Go.

I'm just trying to find different animals,

different species.

Pick 'em up, say hi, and just let 'em go.

And then little by little,

I just started running into more and more pythons.

We put a new sign. This area is in the 24 hour video.

Whoa. What's the fuck?

Oh my God.

Get it, get it, get it.

No way.

Where is it?

I got it.

- You got it? - Yeah.

- That was crazy. It was fucking periscoping.

I knew it. I knew we were gonna catch him today.

Ugh.

Holy shit, it's huge.

Woo.

- I knew it. I knew we were gonna fucking catch him.

Ghost. Quick.

Come on. Pillowcase.

It is like--

Dude, that was insane.

He was like waiting.

Dude. Did you see that?

Yeah. He was periscoping.

Did you see him periscoping?

That's a danger to the Everglades.

That motherfucker is eating whatever.

Fuck.

Are you hungry, lady?

Huh?

Are you hungry?

Come on. Come on over here.

Come on.

You want the banana?

Fucker.

Bit the shit outta me.

When I was growing up,

I was considered weird because of my love for reptiles.

Let me stop bleeding a little bit.

You stay.

I know, I know.

Nobody thought about raising and breeding snakes.

Snakes have been hated from the first book in the Bible.

So 30 years ago,

if you would've told me there's a competition

to catch pythons specifically in the Everglades,

I would've told you you were nuts.

Yeah, baby, heh, heh!

- Joe Wasilewski, thanks so much for being with us.

- One down. - Yeah.

A hundred thousand more to go.

A hundred thousand to go.

- I've been hunting snakes down here for almost 50 years.

But the pythons nobody saw coming.

They're not venomous, but you can see

the power that they have.

Wasilewski, a reptile expert

is one of a handful of men's sanctioned by the state

to hunt down and rid the glades of pythons.

- You know, you can sit down with 10 different scientists

and you're gonna get 10 different answers

of how they’re here and why they're thriving.

- Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia,

but the pythons in the Everglades

in most cases started off as pets

released by their owners after they get too big to handle.

So have a hundred thousand

actually been released?

No, no, no. Probably

what happened is the Hurricane Andrew theory.

Back then, all the imported wildlife came through Miami.

And in August, 1992,

Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida.

One importer had 900 baby pythons.

The hurricane wiped the importer out.

There was nothing left.

Now there's 900 pythons

right in the middle of the Everglades.

Then they reproduce and now it's out of control.

Before there were pythons out there, the Everglades

was one of the most unique ecosystems we have.

There was all kind of exotic wildlife all over.

But once they got here, once they started growing,

the pythons began eating our native animals.

And those numbers just plummeted.

And, and now over 90% of the mammals

in the Everglades have disappeared.

And so the effect it's had on the wildlife

has become an ecological disaster.

But humans, we're good at destroying things,

and hopefully we can destroy these pythons.

The largest one captured to date is 18.9.

I am gonna catch a 20 footer someday, you remember that.

- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

is ready to do whatever it takes

to remove the Burmese python.

Well, if you're a hunter and you've got deer season,

turkey season, now we're Python season.

Wildlife officials in Florida just announced

the Python challenge,

inviting people from all over the world

declaring open season on the predators.

They're giant. They're 17, 18 feet long.

Are they killing people too?

If you wanted to get rid of somebody, man,

take 'em to Python country.

- They're eating our indigenous frogs, our pigs,

our deer, our alligators.

They're eating everything.

They're ravenous.

So Florida's hosting a python hunting challenge

in the Everglades.

How am I gonna chop the head off the snake

if I'm gonna be running in the other direction?

- Over a thousand people have signed up

for this year's event.

And this year's grand prize,

$10,000 for most snakes caught.

Can you imagine on Everglades,

one of the natural wonders of the world with no wildlife?

This battle is like World War III.

- The 10 day competition calls on both

professionals and novices to venture out deep

into the Everglades swamps in the dead of night.

Yeah. Bend that head down.

- To hunt from one of the largest

snakes known to man.

- This snake can have a hundred eggs a year.

And when you calculate that

can destroy the natural food chain,

I welcome everyone to join us

in hunting this invasive snake

and saving our beautiful Everglades.

I came down from Vermont,

so I'm looking for something like world record setter.

I mean, finding a python is a score.

I'm new to the state and I've caught like 10 pythons.

Bye Guapo. Mommy loves you.

- Last year when I won, I mean I was in debt.

$1,300 on my credit card bill,

and shit, I mean, I got lucky.

You, you, you, everybody,

anybody can go out and catch a python.

However, there is a caveat to that,

you have to kill it.

Better put your gun away.

It'd be all right.

And bring the gin and tonic in.

Yes ma'am.

Oh, this is nice.

Very nice.

I packed four boxes worth of stuff and a suitcase,

'cause I didn't know what I was coming up against.

- This one doesn't have your tonic water either.

Okay.

I'll fetch another

Try the suitcase.

I put something in there.

Okay.

Where is the gin?

Let see. She packed her whole apartment up.

I'll take a couple of ounces.

- That looks about like three right there, huh?

No, more.

More than that?

That's not, that's not barely two.

Okay, that's fine.

Right here?

Yeah.

Okay.

My husband would've loved this, perfect.

Killing the pythons, he would've loved this.

I've only been in Florida since October

when my late husband died,

so I don't know anybody here.

I was watching TV and I saw the Python Challenge.

I'm a nature lover, so I said, where can I sign up?

Somebody passed it to Toby.

And Toby called me on the phone and said,

"Hello, I would be honored to be your guide."

So I said, "Yeah, how about that?

"Are you Larry the cable guy?"

She's a pistol.

For her age boy, she's, she's something else.

I'm an eighth generation Florida cracker.

I've been envenomated twice.

Gotten shot, got stabbed once.

I mean, I've just always been outside.

So Miss Anne said, I just wanna go on one more adventure.