The 2022 Florida Python Challenge culled a total of 231 of the invasive snakes from South Florida.
Close to 1,000 participants from 32 states and as far away as Canada and Latvia fanned out across the southern tier of the peninsula over a 10-day period from Aug. 5 to 14 to poke and prod through swamps and grasslands in search of the snakes, which are well camouflaged and often hide in dense underbrush.
The winner of this year’s competition was 19-year-old Matthew Concepcion, of Palmetto Bay, who snatched 28 Burmese pythons from South Florida ecosystems, and bagged the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize, courtesy of the Bergeron Everglades Foundation.
