The Florida Everglades have been under siege for decades.
Invasive Burmese pythons have been wreaking havoc on the ecosystem since they first showed up in 1979.
And a Florida woman made one incredible discovery in the Everglades that left snake experts speechless.
The 2025 Florida Python Challenge wrapped up last week with results that caught everyone off guard.
Here’s what happened: a 10-day competition designed to remove invasive species broke every record in the book.
The winner walked away with $10,000 after capturing more pythons than anyone thought possible.
Naples woman breaks python hunting records
Taylor Stanberry captured 60 Burmese pythons during the July 11-20 competition.
The 29-year-old Naples resident crushed the previous record of 41 pythons from 2021.
Her total beat the last two winners combined – and then some.
The 2024 winner managed 20 pythons, and the 2023 champion also bagged 20.
Stanberry’s dominance becomes even more impressive when you consider she’s only 4 feet, 11 inches tall.
“It was crazy, actually, winning; I’m very honored to win it,” Stanberry told reporters after claiming her victory.
This wasn’t beginner’s luck either.
Stanberry works as a contract python hunter for the state of Florida, meaning she’s been battling these invasive reptiles professionally.
“So I’m a python contractor for the state, so I do this for a job,” she explained. “So this really isn’t anything too new for me.”
Stanberry added that the competition felt routine given her professional background.
“It’s kind of a normal day in the office, as you would call it,” she noted.
Of her 60 captures, 33 were females and 27 were males.
Her longest snake measured just over 9 feet and weighed about 16 pounds.
Women took over the 2025 Python Challenge
Here’s what caught everyone off guard this year.
Stanberry became the first woman to win the grand prize since the competition started in 2013.
She wasn’t alone.
Women dominated the final standings across multiple categories.
Donna Kalil, another contract hunter, secured second place in the professional division with 56 pythons captured.
The timing of this year’s hunt played a crucial role in the record numbers.
“It’s all because of the timing,” Kalil explained. “There were a lot of little baby snakes just getting out of the nest. Some had already had a meal. They come out and are ready to eat.”²
Burmese pythons breed in late winter to early spring, with females laying clutches of eggs in March or April.
The incubation period lasts 60 to 90 days, meaning July hunting coincided perfectly with newly hatched snakes emerging from nests.
Hatchlings can measure up to two feet long, giving hunters plenty of targets.
Stanberry’s most memorable find during the competition involved one of these nests.
“One night was fun; we found a nest of 30 babies and the eggs,” she recalled. “We didn’t find the mom, she had already left the nest because they were hatching. Two hours to find them all, because they’re in trees, they’re in bushes, they’re in the grass starting to crawl away, they’re in the water; it took a while to find them.”³
Why the Python Challenge matters
The Florida Python Challenge exists for one reason: these snakes are destroying the Everglades.
Burmese pythons are killing everything they can swallow.
These reptiles grow over 18 feet long and weigh 200-plus pounds.
They eat birds, mammals, and native reptiles across South Florida.
A single female Burmese python can lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time, allowing their population to explode rapidly.
The ecological damage has been devastating.
A study in Everglades National Park found that pythons were responsible for an 85% to 100% decline in medium-sized mammals like raccoons and rabbits.
Since the Python Challenge began in 2013, hunters have removed more than 1,400 pythons during all challenge events.
The broader effort has been even more successful.
More than 16,000 pythons have been removed by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and South Florida Water Management District contractors since 2017.
Pedro Ramos, superintendent of Everglades National Park, emphasized the importance of citizen participation.
The challenge highlighted “the importance of citizen engagement as we tackle one of the toughest conservation challenges of our time, invasive exotic species of animals and plants,” Ramos stated.⁴
Python hunting requires skill, dedication and proper training
The Florida Python Challenge isn’t a free-for-all hunt.
Participants must pass online training before they’re allowed to compete.
The challenge requires hunters to kill pythons humanely using approved methods.
Firearms, dogs and other animals aren’t permitted during the competition.
Hunters must follow American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines for a two-step process designed to prevent suffering and destroy the animal’s brain.
The designated hunting areas stretch from western Palm Beach County to the Tamiami Trail in the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area.
Other management areas included Holey Land, Rotenberger and Southern Glades.
This year marked the first time Everglades National Park allowed hunting within the park during the challenge.
Stanberry’s success stems from years of experience and dedication to the cause.
Outside the Python Challenge, she and her husband operate an exotic animal sanctuary.
They document their adventures on their YouTube channel, “Tobie’s Troop.”
Stanberry has a message for anyone considering python hunting purely for thrills.
“If you’re going to hunt pythons, do it for the right reasons: saving the Everglades, saving the ecosystem,” she warned. “Don’t just do it because you want to kill a scary creature.”⁵
What happens next
The 2025 Python Challenge showed that hunters can make a real dent in the python population.
Stanberry’s victory shows what happens when skilled people get serious about conservation.
She’s putting her $10,000 prize toward her exotic animal sanctuary.
That tells you everything about what motivates real python hunters.
They’re not doing this for fame or money – they want to save the Everglades.
Sarah Funk, nonnative fish and wildlife program coordinator with the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission, summed up the mission perfectly.
“Every invasive python removed is a win,” Funk declared.⁶
The Python Challenge continues to grow in both participation and effectiveness.
From nearly 1,600 participants in 2013 to this year’s 934 hunters, the event maintains strong support despite fluctuating numbers.
Participation dropped to 600 in 2021 during COVID, but hunters came back strong.
Governor Ron DeSantis keeps backing the program, which means Florida will keep prioritizing python removal.
The collective impact extends far beyond the annual competition.
Since 2019, more than 15,800 snakes have been removed by professional hunters working for the South Florida Water Management District and FWC.
These hunters represent what officials call “the most effective management strategy in the history of the issue.”
Stanberry’s win means something beyond the competition.
She proved that dedicated hunters can make a real impact on conservation.
The Python Challenge continues, and competitors now have a tough record to beat.
The Everglades ecosystem just lost 294 invasive predators.
That’s worth celebrating.
¹ Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “2025 Florida Python Challenge Results,” August 13, 2025.
² Kimberly Miller, “Florida’s new python hunting queen makes history and catches 60 snakes,” Palm Beach Post, August 15, 2025.
³ Joe Roetz and Matthew Garcia, “Naples woman captures 60 Burmese pythons to win $10K in record-setting Florida Python Challenge,” WSVN, August 14, 2025.
⁴ Brenton Blanchet, “Woman Wins 2025 Florida Python Challenge After Removing More Invasive Snakes Than Anyone Else,” People, August 14, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Miller, “Florida’s new python hunting queen makes history and catches 60 snakes.”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: rgcory
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.desantisdaily.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
