96 Pythons in 10 Days: Florida Hunter Makes History in Fierce Everglades Conservation Challenge
One hunter has captured global attention after removing an astonishing 96 Burmese pythons from Florida’s Everglades in just 10 days, emerging as the champion of the 2026 Florida Python Challenge.
Tom Rahill, a veteran python hunter, delivered a remarkable performance during this year’s conservation competition, accounting for more than one-third of the 280 invasive Burmese pythons removed by all participants.
His extraordinary haul earned him the competition’s $10,000 ultimate grand prize, but beyond the prize money and record-breaking numbers, Rahill’s achievement has drawn renewed attention to one of Florida’s most persistent environmental challenges: the rapid establishment of Burmese pythons in the Everglades.
The 2026 Florida Python Challenge, organised by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the South Florida Water Management District, attracted 907 participants from 30 U.S. states, Canada and Vietnam.
Held from July 10 to July 19, 2026, the 10-day event transformed invasive-species management into an intense public conservation campaign, with participants competing for a share of $25,000 in prize money while helping remove a predator that poses a serious threat to Florida’s native wildlife.
A remarkable haul that shattered the previous winning total
Rahill’s 96 pythons represented an exceptional achievement, particularly when compared with the previous year’s winning performance.
In 2025, Taylor Stanberry won the $10,000 grand prize after removing 60 Burmese pythons. Rahill surpassed that figure by 36 snakes, demonstrating just how intense the 2026 competition became. But the overall competition was about much more than individual glory.
Every snake removed represented one less invasive predator roaming through an ecosystem where native animals evolved without having to defend themselves against a large constrictor capable of consuming a wide variety of prey.
Why Florida is fighting the Burmese python invasion
Burmese pythons are native to South and Southeast Asia. They are not naturally found in Florida, but over the years they have established a breeding population in southern parts of the state.
The Everglades has become particularly vulnerable to the invasive snakes because of its vast wetlands, warm climate and abundant wildlife.
Burmese pythons are powerful predators capable of consuming mammals, birds and reptiles. Their presence has been linked to significant declines in several native mammal populations, creating serious concerns for conservationists and wildlife managers.
Unlike many native species, these snakes face relatively few natural controls capable of preventing their population from expanding.
As a result, Florida has developed a range of programmes designed to locate and remove them. The annual Python Challenge is one of the most visible parts of that effort.
Turning an environmental crisis into a conservation competition
The Florida Python Challenge was designed to give members of the public an opportunity to participate directly in efforts to control the invasive snakes.
Instead of leaving the responsibility entirely to wildlife professionals, the programme encourages trained participants to enter the Everglades and other designated areas in search of Burmese pythons.
The competition combines public education, environmental awareness and direct wildlife management.
Participants compete to remove the greatest number of snakes, while additional recognition is given for categories such as the longest python captured.
This year’s event demonstrated the enormous level of public interest in the issue, with hundreds of people travelling from across the United States and beyond to take part. The snakes are permanently removed
Unlike ordinary wildlife competitions where captured animals might be released elsewhere, the objective of the Python Challenge is permanent removal.
Under Florida’s regulations, Burmese pythons captured in designated circumstances may be humanely killed. The FWC states that captured pythons cannot be transported alive and must be humanely killed onsite.
The rules reflect the conservation status of the snakes in Florida. Because Burmese pythons are an invasive, non-native species that threaten native wildlife, the state’s management strategy focuses on reducing their numbers rather than protecting them as a native species.
Florida also permits the removal of non-native pythons on private property with the appropriate landowner permission and on certain FWC-managed lands.
A python measuring more than 16 feet highlights the scale of the threat
While Rahill dominated the competition by number, another hunter made headlines for size.
Rahm Levinson won the prize for capturing the longest python, with a snake measuring an extraordinary 16 feet 5 inches.
The enormous reptile provided another reminder of the remarkable size Burmese pythons can reach after establishing themselves in Florida’s warm and subtropical environment. Their reproductive capacity makes the problem even more difficult.
Female Burmese pythons can lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time, meaning that even a relatively small number of surviving breeding females can contribute significantly to the growth of the population.
For wildlife managers, removing large and potentially reproductive snakes can therefore be particularly important. 280 snakes removed but Florida’s python problem is far from over
The removal of 280 pythons during the 10-day competition may sound impressive, but it represents only a small fraction of the much larger population spread across southern Florida.
According to figures from Florida wildlife authorities, more than 23,000 wild Burmese pythons had been removed from Florida since 2000 by 2025, through government programmes, contractors and other removal efforts.
Since 2017, Florida agencies and their contractors have also removed more than 19,000 pythons, highlighting the scale and persistence of the campaign. Yet the snakes continue to reproduce in the wild. That reality makes complete eradication extremely difficult.
The Everglades covers a vast and complicated landscape, much of which is difficult for humans to access. Pythons are also highly adaptable and can remain hidden for long periods, making them notoriously difficult to locate.
Why every snake still matters
Rahill’s 96-snake haul will not, by itself, transform the Burmese python population in Florida. But conservation officials argue that every removal matters.
A breeding-age female removed from the ecosystem represents not only one less predator but potentially dozens of eggs that will never be produced.
Every python removed also means fewer opportunities for the invasive predator to prey on vulnerable native animals.
This is why Florida’s strategy has increasingly relied on multiple approaches professional python hunters, government agencies, contractors, researchers and members of the public.
The Python Challenge gives ordinary citizens an opportunity to become active participants in that wider conservation effort.
A battle that extends far beyond one competition
The remarkable story of Tom Rahill and his 96 pythons is therefore about more than a competition or a $10,000 prize.
It represents Florida’s ongoing struggle to protect one of America’s most important and environmentally sensitive ecosystems from an invasive predator that has already become deeply established.
The 2026 challenge demonstrated what can happen when hundreds of people come together with a common conservation objective. In just 10 days, 907 participants helped remove 280 invasive snakes. But the numbers also reveal the difficult reality facing Florida.
If hundreds of pythons can be removed in a single competition while the broader population remains firmly established, then the fight is clearly far from over.
Florida’s experience offers a powerful lesson in invasive-species management: once a non-native predator becomes established across a vast ecosystem, completely eliminating it can become extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible.
The goal then shifts from total eradication to reducing the population, limiting its spread, protecting native wildlife and maintaining constant pressure on the invasive species.
For Tom Rahill, 96 pythons in 10 days earned him the top prize. For the Everglades, however, the real victory is measured differently, in every invasive snake removed, every native animal protected and every step taken toward preserving one of America’s most remarkable natural ecosystems.
