She’s One of Florida’s Most Lethal Python Hunters
October 24, 2024 at 08:22PMBurmese pythons were habitually released into the wild by irresponsible pet owners after the exotic pet boom in the ’70s. Since then, they’ve decimated the bird and wild animal population of Florida, to the point where the Florida Water Management District started a python bounty hunter program in a bid to curb their numbers and help the ecosystem to heal. Lindsey Liles tells the story for Garden & Gun
Somewhere in the night air along those roads—in the pulsing chorus of insects and tree frogs, in the crunching of tires over dirt, in the patter of rain and the shining of the moon—I think I understand why Kalil is here, and how she finds peace amid the inherent violence of her job. I understand why she will jump on a seventeen-foot python and set aside her love of snakes to drive a pithing knife into its brain. I understand how life in the Everglades is both delicate and resilient, and how poignant it is to mourn the power we have to destroy, and to wield the power we have to heal.
As a whippoorwill sings overhead, Kalil catches our third and final python—a female, possibly carrying eggs. The snake moves gingerly, perhaps to protect the life within her, and puts up no fight as Kalil and I quietly lower her into the white cloth bag.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/10/24/shes-one-of-floridas-most-lethal-python-hunters/
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