A Florida snake hunter, his wife, and their two kids were able to wrestle and take out a whopping 202-pound Burmese python in a battle that saw the slithering beast drag the professional some 15 feet on the ground.
Carl Jackson, a full-time Burmese python hunter with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), was in the Everglades on Jan. 13 to deal with the invasive species when he came across the hulking reptile, Naples News reported.
Jackson, 43, got the surprise of a lifetime when he witnessed the sheer size of the massive python — measuring at 16 feet, 10 inches — as the serpent coiled itself around his leg and dragged him across red and black ant hills.
“It was like riding a slow horse,” Jackson told the local outlet. “It was insane.”
Fortunately for the Utah native, his wife, Tasha, and children, Ryker Young, 20, and Jazzyln Bateman, 16, were with him to help wrestle the python off his leg.
It was quite the adventure for Tasha, Young, and Bateman, who had only just been certified as Jackson’s assistants to help remove invasive pythons in Florida.
The python the family killed was the second-heaviest Burmese python captured in Florida’s history, according to the FWC. The heaviest was a 215-pound serpent caught in 2022.
Jackson said he was proud of the find and glad he was also able to locate and destroy the python’s 200 eggs, ridding the Everglades of even more invasive predators.
“That means more to me because that is 200 potential deer and native animal eaters [that were eliminated],” he said.
It was the family’s greatest catch since moving to Florida last year to fulfill Jackson’s dream of becoming a python hunter like the professionals he saw on the Discovery Channel.
After killing the python and measuring the massive serpent, Jackson and his family returned to the site of the capture to find a more than 10-foot-long male.
Burmese pythons, among the largest snakes in the world, are an invasive species first identified in the Everglades National Park more than 40 years ago.
The reptiles have been linked to the decline of small mammals in Florida, including rabbits, raccoons, opossums, bobcats, and foxes, according to the FWC.
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