Hunters entering Florida's yearly Python Challenge are once again helping the state thin out invasive snakes in the Everglades. This time, participants also have a shot at an offbeat perk from a local restaurant, as NBC6 reports.
Anyone who shows up with a captured Burmese python could end up trading it for a complimentary pizza made with snake meat.
What's happening?
Once again, the Florida Python Challenge is inviting the public to compete for prizes while removing invasive Burmese pythons from the state. NBC6 reveals a local restaurant is sweetening the event with a meal-related bonus.
Wildman's Pizza, Pasta and Python owner Dustin Crum said successful hunters can swap the pythons they catch for a free pie at the station.
"I'm the first place in the world to accept python as currency," Crum told NBC6. "So you can trade in a python for a pizza."
Burmese pythons, a species from Southeast Asia, are now entrenched in the Everglades and nearby areas of Florida. The annual challenge started in 2013 as a way to reduce their numbers, but no one knows the exact population size, with estimates ranging from 30,000 to 300,000.
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Last year, roughly 1,000 hunters removed 294 snakes during the challenge. As for how the species spread in Florida. One theory points to animals that escaped when Hurricane Andrew destroyed a farm in 1992, while another centers on released pets.
Why does it matter?
Invasive species can throw ecosystems badly out of balance, and the Burmese python has become one of Florida's best-known examples.
When a nonnative predator becomes established in a place like the Everglades, it can put serious pressure on native wildlife and disrupt the natural systems that nearby communities rely on.
Pythons can crowd out native lizards, pose a threat to humans and their pets, and consume threatened or endangered species, as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission describes.
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What's being done?
Florida's primary strategy is organized removal. The Python Challenge gives participants a structured chance to hunt invasive snakes.
Crum's business also reflects an effort to make use of the animals once they are removed, NBC6 reported. Eating invasive species is a popular effort around the globe.
In addition to the pizza offer, NBC6 notes he runs a store stocked with items made from python skin, bones, and oil taken from the fat. He doesn't discriminate when it comes to invaders.
"We do python toppings, python pizza, iguana, you know, whatever," Crum revealed to the station.
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